Family
by TheRoseShadow21
Summary: 'Being a single parent is hard. Being a federal agent can get complicated. When you are a single parent working as a federal agent , life goes way beyond the simple words like "hard" or "compicated" , and as the years go by , it doesn't get any easier . But despite all of that , I would not change my life at all.' AU ,rated T for safety.(some TonyXZiva )
1. You Learn Something New Everyday

**I've had this idea for a while, but I'm only able to start it now. **

**Although the start of this chapter takes place at the end of the Season 1 Episode**_**: The truth is out there**_** and some events in here will match up with the TV storyline, this fic is mainly AU. **

**I know there have been loads of fanfics about Tony having kids(not that I've read all of them =P) , but I hope that some of this story will be unique-and if not , I hope you enjoy it anyway!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own NCIS.I only own this plot and my OCs. **

"Do you have any plans for tonight?" Tony asked casually.

Kate shrugged, looking at the time. "Not anymore." It had been a long day, and she was completely and utterly beat.

Tony grinned in that annoying yet endearing way he had.

"Well, in that case, want to grab some Chinese with me? There's a new take-out place at the end of the road."

"Yeah, why not? Should we invite Gibbs?" Both agents looked at their boss, still watching his computer screen as the facial recognition software ran endlessly, and decided against it. The way Gibbs looked, it would be near impossible to get him away from his desk.

…

"What exactly was so good about this place? It's the same as any other Chinese take-out store, right? "

"Erm…It's bigger, so you don't need to stand around like sardines in a tin while waiting for your food."

Kate rolled her eyes. Tony noticed this and protested.

"Plus, it's easy to just go get food quickly when we are on a case."

Kate had to give him that. It was a valid point. She dropped the topic and they walked towards Tony's car.

"So, what you going to do now-go home and watch a late-night movie?"

"Perhaps. First I have to get Milo and Lynnie from Mrs Bradley. Maybe once they're in bed. "

Kate nodded absently and watched as Tony opened his car door and got in. Then:

"Wait, what?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You said you need to put Milo and Lynnie to bed? Who are they?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "C'mon, you've been with our team for what, 5 to 6 months now? How do you not know about Milo and Lynnie?" When he saw that Kate still looked blank, he elaborated. "My children. They are twins."

Kate looked sceptical. She didn't remember ever being told anything like this.  
"You-a father?"

"Yes, I am. Why not come with me, and then you can see for yourself? "

Kate briefly wondered about the wiseness of being in the same car as Tony outside of work, but her curiosity won out.

"Let's go then. " She went around to the passenger side, opened the door, got in and closed it. Tony closed his door and they drove. All through the drive, He talked about the twins .They were 2 years old, their birthday was on 6th November-almost a month after Tony had first started to work at NCIS, Milo was the older one by 15 minutes, and his full name was Milo Clayton DiNozzo, and Lynnie's was Lindsay Tia was more of a talker than his sister, and like a typical boy, was into dinosaurs and cars. Lynnie already had a large collection of teddy bears, but also enjoyed being with Gibbs in his basement, or hanging around Abby. She did however babble a lot in her sleep. Both of them liked being with Ducky. Both twins had an aversion to broccoli, but were crazy for crisps in a cheese-and ham toasted sandwich. As Kate listened, she got a sense of a different side to Tony, one that wasn't all about pizza, girls, movies and cars. She got the feeling that he was actually a good father-but how he ended up like that, she didn't know. But for all his talk about his twins, he didn't actually mention _how _he had become their father, and this was what she was more curious about.

Kate was just about to ask when Tony announced that they were there, and parked the car.

"Hold my food for me." Tony said, handing her the box.

"Sure." Kate muttered and pulled a face as she held her own bag, 2 boxes of food and a bag of prawn crackers and went to follow Tony. As he knocked at the door of the apartment block, Kate glanced to the right. The garden of the apartment appeared to be combined with that of the garden of the next-door bungalow. Perhaps it was owned by the landlord.

A couple of childish voices drew Kate's attention back to the door. Tony had just said goodbye to Mrs Bradley and closed the door.  
They set off. The twins were beautiful children. Both had almost olive complexions, dark and shiny hair (Lynnie's done in what appeared to be two bunches) and identical facial features. Milo's eyes were dark brown, whereas Lynnie's were hazel. They both had an exotic look about them, and although Milo was dressed reasonably in a dinosaur patterned fleece over a white t-shirt and some grey trousers, Lynnie's outfit looked more randomly assembled.

Clearly, for all he talked about girls, Tony didn't have a clue.

"We're here." Tony pulled out his keys from his pocket, and opened the door. Kate was surprised to see that they were at the bungalow she had noticed earlier.

"This is your house?" She couldn't keep the surprise out of her voice.

"Yeah. When I got the kids, Mrs Bradley let …." Tony was cut off by Milo whining.

"Daddy, I'm hungy…"  
Tony knelt down to his son's height.

"Hungry? Didn't you eat at Mrs Bradley's?"

Milo pulled a face. Tony sighed and got up.

"Let's get inside then. "

It was only 20 minutes later, when the kids had taken off their coats, washed their hands and were sitting at the dining table, and Kate had cracked a joke about thinking that Tony only ever ate in front of the TV that the twins noticed that she was there.

"Who are you?" Lynnie asked. Kate laughed.

"My name's Kate. " She said. Lynnie narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her, then slipped off the chair and went over to the kitchen area of the room so she was standing next to Tony, and tugged on his trouser leg, the whole time turning and giving Kate the type of suspicious look only a little kid can.

"My name's Milo." Milo piped up, Kate turned to look at him.

"I know."

"But that's jus my short name. My longer name is Milo Clayton DiNozzo." Milo stretched the _I_ sound in his surname out a bit, making it sound like _DiiiiNozzo._

"That's good, that you know your full name. "  
"What's your name? "He asked suddenly.  
"Kate."  
"ohh…you have a full name? "  
"Yes, I do. It's Caitlin Todd."  
"Thas good, you know your full name. "

Kate chuckled, and Tony joined them, with warmed up Chinese takeaways and a couple of sandwiches for the twins. Lynnie was still clinging on to his trouser leg and glaring.

"Go sit and eat your food, Lynnie. " Tony told her. The little girl continued to glare at Kate. Tony looked from Lynnie to Kate and back again. Then he lifted Lynnie on to his lap and said.

"Lynnie, that's Kate. She works with me. "When her expression didn't change, he elaborated "She works with me and Uncle Gibbs and Ducky and Abby."

Lynnie's eyes went wide.  
"You from NCIS like Daddy. " Kate nodded uncertainly. Lynnie's face lit up, and she slipped off Tony's lap and went to sit at her seat .Grabbing her sandwich with small hands, and taking huge bites, she grinned.  
With food in her mouth, she said "You friends with BeeBee? BeeBee's my friend!"  
Kate looked at Tony. _BeeBee?  
Abby_, Tony mouthed.  
"Yeah, Abby's my friend. I work with her too."  
"I'm gonna work with her, when I'm gone up." Lynnie announced, showing the mouthful of masticated sandwich.

"Grown up, Lynnie. Not gone. "  
They all laughed.

…

After dinner, while Tony put the kids to bed, Kate wandered around the bungalow. The décor was nothing spectacular, Infact; it went into the category of terrible that she had seen in houses owned by single men. However, there were floral curtains in the living room and kitchen, suggesting that Tony hadn't completely finished re-decorating when he got the bungalow from Mrs Bradley. In the living room, there were various pictures hanging from the walls .Some were random wall hangings, pictures of city skylines and other such things. There were a few framed movie posters, and the rest of the pictures were of Milo and Lynnie. There were only a few of these , but Kate felt sure that as they grew up, the living room pictures would be added to and would then provide visitors with an accurate picture of their progression through life.

She ignored the bathroom, and went straight to Tony's bedroom. This wasn't an investigation; after all, she was just curious about this aspect of her co-worker's life she didn't really know about.

The bedroom was as expected. Wardrobe full of work clothes and other typical items of clothing. There were large collections of DVDs in here-most of these films were the more gory or adult ones. There were a lot in the living room, in the small cupboard the TV stood on, so Kate assumed that he kept these ones in the bedroom to keep them away from Milo and Lynnie.

She also found a lot of parenting books. They had folded pages, sticky notes marking pages…and was that a juice stain on the cover of one of them? This was the discovery that surprised her the most. From her witnessing Tony's more-or-less calm manner, she had assumed that he knew exactly what he was doing.  
Apparently he didn't.

Kate shrugged , and left the room. Just as she did , Tony left the twins' room.

"Find anything interesting?"  
"Huh?"  
Tony smirked. "You were looking around."  
Kate's mouth dropped open "How did you…"  
"Because , You clearly can't believe that I , Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo , could possibly be living this kind of life. "  
Kate rolled her eyes , and walked past him to the living room.

Tony followed , and they sat on the sofa.

"First I want to know –how did you wind up taking care of them? Where's there mother? What nationality is she-I mean, they really don't look anything like-"

"Whoa, this isn't an interrogation, is this?" Tony held his hands up in mock surrender.

"Sorry." Tony pulled a face, his hands still up. After a moment Kate shook her head.

"Ok put your hands down, it's too strange."

Tony did. Then he momentarily closed his eyes, opened them and said.

"They aren't mine. Not biologically. "

Kate did a double take. "What?"

"You heard."

"Then…if they aren't really yours, why do you have them?"

Tony's face went hard "They were abandoned on my doorstep, when I was still living in the ground floor apartment. I brought them up from day 1. I think that makes them my kids, biological or otherwise."

Kate blinked, realising that she had somehow overstepped a line. "Sorry."

"It's 're not the first person to ask me that. "

"I still can't picture it though…how did you cope-I can't imagine you actually having any prior knowledge of kids , or even wanting to have any kids , before they arrived."

"You're right…I wasn't even considering settling down or anything like that ,"Tony's face took on a faraway look "I was running late to work that day , and I opened the door and they were there , just sleeping. "

"For the whole night?!" Kate was shocked.

"Probably. I remember hearing some crying noises the night before, but I had thought it was just cats. They were so cold…There was a note with them; all it stated was that they were twins, and that the boy was the older. It was a scrap paper, and the other side was just a random mixture of languages. They were actually born 3 days before they were abandoned at mine. "

Kate absorbed the information quietly, and was about to ask Tony what happened next when he continued.

"I took them in, found a blanket and wrapped them both up .Then, because they were still sleeping , I called Gibbs , told him that I would be late for work-and told him why. "

Kate couldn't imagine what Gibbs would have said to Tony telling him he'd be late for work because babies had been abandoned on his doorstep. "What did Gibbs say?"

"He said to stay where I was, then about an hour later he came around and helped me out. He knew exactly what to do…even brought some stuff over. You know nappies and such like. Then Abby and Ducky found out , they came to help too , and they all helped me to get Social Services to allow me to keep them…the rest is history."

"You've done a good job, from what I can see. I actually have to hand it to you; you seem to know what you are doing." Kate didn't mention the parenting books she had seen.

"I don't, not really .Sometimes, I wonder: _what the hell am I doing?_, then I look at them and realise it. " The faraway look turned to one that loved –with a little guilt in there. Kate wanted to find out what that guilty look was about, but didn't want to overstep any more boundaries.

"How does Gibbs know about kids? The way you relayed the story, it seems like he's a bit of an expert. "

Tony paused. Then, "You know the Boss-man. Full of surprises."

Kate rolled her eyes. "No, seriously." Tony knew more than he was giving away, she could tell.

"You'll have to ask Gibbs." They both knew there was no way that would happen, so Kate dropped the subject.

For a small while longer, they talked about other stuff –work, food, even movies, before Kate got up and said.

"Well, I better be going then. It was nice meeting the twins. "

"I think they enjoyed meeting you too. Especially once Lynnie found out you work with me at NCIS. "Tony grinned, and Kate grinned back.

"I'll see you at work then. I'll let myself out. "

"Yeah.G'night."

…

A few weeks later, the Gibb's team were working on another murder case, and they were working late, Mrs Bradley had gone to visit her sister, and Tony couldn't get any last-minute babysitters-so Milo and Lynnie ended up coming to work with him.

Soon as they got there, Gibbs nodded in acknowledgement.

"Ducky's got the dead marine out, Abby is busy. "He said. Tony made a gesture to say that he had got it, and sat back down at his desk. Then, he opened his desk drawer and got out some small, pocket sized picture books, as well as a couple of stuffed toys.

"I'm going to be very busy now, so please don't disturb me, Ok?" Milo laughed, grabbed a book, and scrambled under the desk and sat, looking like he was actually reading the book. Kate stifled a laugh. Lynnie looked around, wide eyed, her hair down and falling in waves to her shoulder. Then, she took off her little pink coat, discarded it before picking up the stuffed bee and wandering to Gibbs desk.

"Uncle Gibbs." She said, attempting to climb onto his lap.

"Gibbs is working as well, Lyns." Tony said. Gibbs rolled his eyes and helped Lynnie sit on his lap.

"How about you worry about your work, DiNozzo?"

"Got it, boss." For a while , the only noises in the room were that of typing , Kate making constant phone calls and being put on hold , Milo 'reading' and Gibbs doing whatever it was he was doing while quietly explaining to Lynnie everything-albeit the condensed version of the story , as it was suitable for a toddler.

"Boss, I think we need to get McGee over here." Tony said suddenly. Gibbs gave him a look. Tony opened and shut his mouth a few times in succession, like a goldfish.

"What exactly are you waiting for? Get him over here!" Tony jumped and soon made the phone call. Then he got up.

"I'm going to the bathroom. I'm bursting." Then he rushed off before Gibbs could pin him to the chair with another of his looks. Kate wanted to yell something about not needing to know every little detail about his life, but restrained herself, and continued waiting for the latest person she was calling to take her off hold.

"Oh, yes, I'm here….Not at all? Are you sure? Ok, thank you." Kate put down the phone. She turned slightly.

"He hasn't turned up for work, and the …dozen relatives living around the area haven't seen him either. Who else could he be with? He can't be that close to all his relatives, and some of them live as far out as Toronto."

"They're one of those close knit clans. Try the rest of them."

"Gibbs!"

"Katie, where's daddy?" Milo had come out from under the desk, and was standing in front of it , looking slightly confused.

"He's gone to the toilet, Milo. What's wrong?"

"I'm hungry," Kate's mind went blank momentarily, and then she reached for her handbag. "I think I have a….apple!" She held it out. Milo took it.

"Thank you." He said in between chews.

"Katie, The apple is green ." Lynnie stated. Kate smiled at the little girl.

"Yes , It is. "

The elevator dinged and McGee rushed in.

"Where should I sit, Sir…uh, I mean Boss?" Gibbs indicated the desk opposite his and McGee went to sit when he noticed Milo and Lynnie. He blinked.

"Who…?"

"Milo, Lynnie. This is McGee. Timothy McGee. "

Milo grinned. McGee grinned back uncertainly. Lynnie asked

"Do you work with daddy?" McGee stuttered, wondering what to say.

"He does." Kate said. When McGee looked at her questioningly, she mouthed _Tony._

McGee was clearly surprised, but just nodded and turned to Lynnie and nodded "I do work with your daddy." Then, after dumping his bags at the desk, he went over to Milo.

"Hey, kid, want to sit with me? Milo complied, still eating the apple , and soon the two looked to be fast friends. When Tony came back, he looked around.

"Well."

McGee looked up "Oh, hi Tony. "

"Hey. "Then, after sitting down and wiggling his computer mouse to get rid of the screensaver, he said jokingly.

"Looks like you've all met the family, then. "

McGee smiled.

"Yep, and I learnt something new about a guy who I thought was completely predictable. "

Tony narrowed his eyes, trying to formulate a witty response, and everyone ,even Gibbs , laughed.

**This was just an introductory chapter really-and it took ages! Anyway, although it may look like most of the truth about the twins has been revealed, it actually has not.**

**I hope you enjoyed this first chapter , and again , I can't guarantee regular updates , but I will try **

**Please leave feedback ^^**


	2. Unrealised Dreams

**Am really happy with all the feedback I have been getting ^^ , and I've noticed a particular question keeps cropping up , so All I'll say is…wait and see .**

**Oh , and I can't remember Nov 6 , 2005 was on a Sunday , but I hope you'll let that slide as this is an AU storyline. Sorry about that =P**

Kate looked at the empty desk opposite hers.

"Tony's late." She commented out loud to nobody in particular. Gibbs walked past with his coffee at that moment and said.

"Actually, Milo's caught a stomach bug . DiNozzo not coming in at all."

"Oh." Kate looked at her pile of paperwork. Briefly, memories of her outside-of work friends complaining about their kids illnesses and laughing at their antics flitted through her mind. Then, she sighed , and got on with it.

…

When it was lunchtime , she realised that the sandwiches she'd made at home were sitting on her kitchen counter still , so she went out to buy something.

As she looked at the not that large range of sandwiches she suddenly remembered Tony and the twins, so while looking at the other food items , she used her mobile phone to call him.

"Hello?"

"Kate?Oh…. Did the boss forget where I was or something?"

"No, just wanted to check how you were…you know with Milo being….did I call at a bad time?" When she said that, she mentally facepalmed. Tony was dealing with a sick 2year old….of course it was a bad time!

Tony took the comment in good grace though and replied " Nah , its Ok…I think Lynnie's caught the bug though . "

"Oh…how you dealing with things?"

"I'm good."

"Do you ...Want me to come over or something , to help you out , maybe?"

"Nah….you don't wanna come here. Vomity, everywhere." Tony made pretend sick sounds.

Kate rolled her eyes "Well, if you're sure. I'll see you later then." She hung up , and eventually chose a sandwich , paid for it and left.

Outside, she went to the park she usually spent her lunch breaks in and sat down , then pulled out her sketchbook and started to draw a picture of the twins , the first of many pictures she'd draw.

…

"November, November…YES!"

"What are you on about?" McGee asked.

"November 6th is on a Sunday….that means I can have a party for Milo and Lynnie that day. "

Abby had been talking to Gibbs animatedly (as usual) but stopped abruptly and turned.

"Did I hear the word party?"

"Yup. Milo and Lynnie's third birthday. Wanna help?"

"Yeah!" Abby did a little jump in the air, she bunches bouncing with her.

"Cool….I probably need to start writing invites….and I just realised I can't remember who their friends in the day care are!"

"Why not try finding out who killed our marine first?" Gibbs cut in. Everyone jumped, and got to work , making no mention of parties until 3 hours later , Gibbs dropped a handwritten list in front of Tony.

"I wrote down names I remembered from that week 3 months ago when I had to drop them off for you. You'll have to do the rest, however. "

Tony looked up and grinned.

"Thanks, boss."

…

Abby had grown up surrounded by loving family –parents , her brother Luca , and multitudes of aunts , cousins, family friends and of course-both sets of grandparents . So, she was never wanting for affection.

This didn't stop her from adopting, so to speak, Gibbs as her father, Ducky as her grandfather and Kate and Tony as her siblings. So it was only natural that she'd be involved in planning Milo and Lynnie's third birthday party. Because they were also her family.

It would be a special event, their third birthday, because on their last birthday, the team had been on a case. Not a particularly major one, but big enough to prevent any party-shaped plans from occurring.. And the first birthday, Tony was still trying to work out the whole "being a parent" thing and figuring out how his income could be stretched to bring up the twins.

_And_, she thought as she hung up yet another balloon in Tony's small living _room, A party is a party , even if it's full of toddlers. I can never miss a good party._

…

And the party _was_ good. Judging by the way Tony was talking madly, telling stories of popped balloons, laughter, cake and giggling pre-schoolers.  
He was talking a lot, even for Tony , and there was a look in his eyes , something that wasn't there when he talked about his other passions for movies and the like. Gibbs wondered if he'd had that look in his eyes , back in the days when Shannon and Kelly was alive and he used to speak of his little girl's antics and actions to anyone who'd listen.  
He chuckled quietly at Tony telling of how Lynnie had reacted to the old NCIS cap that they had given her for her birthday. For obvious reasons, the special agent who was getting rid of it had qualms about giving it to a kid, but had given in eventually. After all, she was 3 and already convinced she would work at NCIS when she was her daddy's age. All she needed was some more life experience and qualifications. Then Tony noticed Gibbs was holding a pile of letters, and like the idiot he was, grabbed randomly for the one at the top.

Noticing the lipstick print on the front of it, Gibbs heard Kate make some joke as he gave Tony a death glare and went over to his desk.

"I wonder what's inside." Tony commented as he prised it open. At that moment, a cloud of dust puffed out from the opening, and all hell broke loose.

…

_The twins. Oh god, who's going to take care of the twins? _As she left Tony fighting for his life , Kate couldn't help wonder that. And she knew that would be the question at the forefront of his mind too.

When she saw Ducky, she instantly broke down , dissolving in her tears. He held her , said it would be OK in his reassuring way , but it was not enough.

"Ducky…what about the twins…who's going to tell them they won't have a father anymore?"

Ducky let go of Kate, looked at her , then noticed Gibbs come in , noticed something in his eyes as he headed for the wheezing and weak Tony. Silently, they watched Gibbs say something to him , and then give out his trademark head-slap .

Everything would be OK.

…

When Kate kept Tony company that night , they talked a lot.

She told him things that she would have normally only told a close friend….then again, close is what they had become over the past year and a bit of working together. She told him that she wanted to find the right guy one day…but although she had come close , that had never happened yet…and she was worried that it would never happen. She also told him that once she'd found the right guy , she'd really love to be a mother. She wasn't just saying it, that time they had to look after the little blind girl. She really meant it, but was wondering if her dream would ever be realised

Tony told her stuff too. Mostly stories of childhood, about losing his mother, about the strained relationship between him and his father. He also shared a lot of funny stories, but Kate sensed that they were important to him. Profound things did not always need to be sad.

Then he told her that he was sure that all her dreams would come true, that there was plenty of time, and that although he was definitely not marrying her or anything like that , she was the closest thing to a mother that Milo and Lynnie had.

Kate felt encouraged, upon hearing that.

…

"I thought I'd die before hearing you tell Tony that." Kate commented , laughing as she stood with Gibbs and Tony on the roof.

Almost as soon as she said that , a bullet whizzed through the air , going through her head , knocking her down and taking her life.

All that could be heard was the sound of Tony and Gibbs' shocked breaths, and the sounds of unrealized dreams falling to the ground.

**Sorry the chapter took so long.I actually lost my USB where I kept the original document and had to rewrite this chapter all over again…which was just excruciating. **

**Anyway, this chapter is kind of short , I know , but it is intended. Next chapter will see the arrival of Ziva…and how Milo and Lynnie react to her. Again , not sure when that will come up , since I have exams in January and a couple of one-shots I need to get out of my system. But as always , I will try ^^**

**Please leave feedback!**


	3. Learning to Move Forward

**And here's chapter 3! ^^  
I know I said this is the chapter that Ziva arrives…but that doesn't mean your questions about the twins origins are going to be answered here. That will occur when I get to the point in the story that comes just after my one-shot **_**Galactic Railroad**_** (which some of you may have read already) , where the twins are 9 years old .Don't worry , there won't be many chapters in-between now and that point .  
But anyway…enough of me going on and on. **

"Katie? Whys Katie gone?"

"But why can't she come back?"

"Dead…?"

"That means we can't talk to her?"

"Whens Katie gonna…"

So many questions. Each time, he patiently answered them . But each time , he wanted to scream , tell them she was dead because that damn bastard had decided to shoot her. The fact he wanted to scream at them made him feel worse , and it was a miracle that he was still able to keep going with the investigation.

When it was over, and the team could attend the funeral , Tony was relieved. He took Milo and Lynnie with them, to try and make them understand. To an extent , it worked. The questions faded. Although sometimes Lynnie would wake up crying , asking for her.

So , for all intents and purposes , they could move on with life.

…

Ziva wondered who the two beautiful kids that kept coming up in Kate's sketchbook were. From the little she had heard about the well-loved team mate Ari had murdered, she knew that Kate hadn't yet had children of her own.  
Her curiosity heightened when she spotted a small picture of the children-possibly twins, on Gibbs desk. With their curly hair and bright eyes, they looked achingly familiar. She knew however , that they were not Gibbs' , because she had already known that , despite marrying 3 times after Shannon and Kelly had gone , he had no more children.

But despite her burning questions, she did not ask anything. Trust was still too fragile, and she was focused on proving herself to them.

And she did .Case after case; she slowly became part of the team, and started to feel that she could call Kate's desk her own, and freely say she was a member of Gibbs team. She almost forgot about finding about the kids.

Until the day Tony got accused of murder.

…

They had to take his computer away. To look for evidence. It was standard procedure. How many times had she taken computers from a suspect's house before?

Then again , none of those suspects had been on her team .And none of them had been Tony.

"Oh."

She had only just noticed the pictures. 5 of them arranged in a row next to the space the computer was in. The one in the middle showed Tony, twin either side of him. He had knelt down to their height and was smiling into the camera. The pictures either side of it appeared to have been taken on the same day, and showed both twins smiling into the camera. One of the pictures made it look as if they were going to leap out of the frame and hug whoever was looking at them. The individual pictures were the most eye-catching though. The boy twin was smiling, but had a calm look around him, dressed in little dark jeans and a pale green button down shirt. His dark eyes were intense. The girl, however was grinning so widely that her eyes were shut (although she knew from the other pictures that those eyes were paler than her brother's), her hair was in ponytails but they were messy. And perhaps, most unusually, she was wearing an NCIS cap.

"Who's looking after them?" She asked .its truck her that although she knew about them, and now knew them to be Tony's , she didn't know their names.

"Huh?" McGee gave a start, then realised that Ziva was looking at the picture. "Actually, good question. Boss!"

Gibbs looked up from whatever he was doing at his own desk.

"What?" he sounded irritated.

"Who's looking after Milo and Lynnie?" He asked.

"I will be. Infact, the day-care finishes in about an hour, right?" Gibbs got up.

"Uh…I think so. " Gibbs left the squadroom rapidly without being reminded, McGee got back to what they were supposed to do. Ziva did as well. Then…

"McGee…" Ziva paused.

"Something wrong, Ziva?"

"Lynnie and Milo .When will I get to meet them? " McGee looked surprised. Then he composed himself and replied.

"When we clear Tony's name. Didn't really think you were interested in children, Ziva. "

"There's a lot you don't know about me."

…

"They're cute. " Somehow, those were the only words that could come out of Ziva's mouth. Gibbs had brought the twins in, since he couldn't leave them alone .They were dressed in their pyjamas, cute animal-patterned (bears for Milo, cats for Lynnie) ones, and they had now both curled up on Ziva's chair and fallen asleep. Gibbs hung their coats over Tony's chair. She watched them.

"They will be glad, to have their daddy come back. " Then, after a pause "Do they know what happened?"

"More or less." Ziva trusted Gibbs' instinct with kids, and so didn't say anything to that.

Just then, the elevator pinged, Tony and FBI Agent Fornell came out of it. Tony was grinning, and as soon as he got to them, he started talking.

"So you got me out! I mean, not that I ever doubted you, boss, but …man, prison ain't all that fun you know. "Ziva briefly wondered where in the worlds prison was supposed to be _any_ fun , but let it go.

Ducky, who had been talking to McGee up until then, told Tony "It's not us you need to thank. Abigail hasn't got any sleep since this whole affair started."

"Oh." Tony's gaze fell on Milo and Lynnie, and he asked. "Where is she?"

"She has probably passed on by now." Ziva said. She didn't understand the odd looks given to her by everyone present, including Director Shepard, who had just joined them , until McGee said.

"Passed_ out_, Ziva."

Ziva sighed in exasperation. "Whatever. The girl is tired. "

Just then , Lynnie woke up .

"Daddy?" she said wearily, looking up at Tony. She rubbed her eyes and blinked before asking

"They know you aren't a criminal then?"

Tony chuckled. "Yeah, they know."

"Can we go home now?" She yawned. Ziva smiled.

"Soon .I still have some things to sort out. " He picked Lynnie up of the chair .and went back to his own desk and sat in his chair, settling Lynnie in his lap.

"Milo looked a bit squashed there in Ziva's chair. "He told her.

Lynnie looked around searchingly.

"That's Ziva?" she pointed at Ziva, who suddenly felt very weird. All she could do was nod. Lynnie seemed satisfied, and, clinging to her dad's shirt , she fell asleep again.

"What was that about? Ziva whispered.

"Lynnie is crazy about the Gibbs team, and has already decided she wants to work at NCIS when she's older. So, because you sit at that desk, she figures you work with me, so she's decided she likes you. Otherwise, she'd be pretty shy with you…if she was awake. "

"I see…." She didn't.

Tony was just about to tell her something else when Gibbs swore and dropped his coffee, running to Abby's lab. McGee, Director Shepard and Ducky followed, curious.

Tony gave Ziva a look. He was just as confused as she was.

He tilted his head in the direction they had gone.

"Go. Tell me later." Ziva left.

…

When she phoned him later to inform him that it was Abby's (unwanted) lab assistant that had orchestrated the whole mess, Tony laughed and laughed, despite the fact that it was 3 in the morning and he had just resettled the twins after a nightmare.

Ziva would keep the sound of that laughter in her memory forever.

**This was supposed to be longer….but somehow the chapter ended up finishing itself like this. I know , not much in terms of plot. But I promise , promise , promise that next chapter , there will definitely be more going on .**

**Until then, please leave feedback ^^**


	4. Types of Love

**Reply to the Guest reviewer: There will be Tiva-ish moments, but that isn't the main focus of this story. **

Things got easier when they started school. It was easier to find babysitting at short notice, since the times they went to and came from school were regular, and when they made friends at school, Milo and Lynnie simply went to their houses after school -which saved on babysitter fees.

Of course, owing to the erraticness of his job, Tony ended up buying them mobile phones. Had he been in any other job, if the kids had a mother, he wouldn't dream of giving a child as young as 4 a mobile –but you did what you had to do. And apart from the fact Lynnie insisted that hers should be pink, they didn't spend excess time on the phones, and instead played the way kids should.

…

He met her during a lunch break, when he realised that in the morning rush, his own lunch was languishing in the fridge, and had to go out to buy something.

He ended up at a café with only one free table, eating chips and a chicken sandwich, when he heard someone approach the table.

"Erm….is it OK if I sit here?" The woman was pretty and slim, wearing a grey jacket over a nurse's uniform and looking slightly frazzled.

Tony looked around to see that somehow, all the other tables were still full to bursting.

"Sure." She sat down on the chair opposite him.

"I'm sorry, it's just that now was the only time I could get away for a lunch break ….it was kind of busy at work. "Her cheeks went pink and Tony felt himself warming to her.

"It's OK." He gave his most charming smile. "Let's pretend we know each other. I tell you my name, you tell me yours.  
I'm Anthony DiNozzo, but my friends call me Tony."

"I'm Jeanne Benoit. I'm a nurse…as you can see. "She laughed, pointing at her uniform . "Redbridge Hospital, just down the road.. What about you?"

Tony hesitated for a nanosecond "I'm actually a federal agent. NCIS."

"Oh, so you're a navy cop then. "

Usually, the term _navy cop_ was used mockingly, but with Jeanne's lightly accented voice, it didn't sound like that.

"Oh, so you've heard of us! That's good to know. I was starting to think we'd gone into oblivion or something. Most people we meet don't even know that the agency exists. I don't take it personally anymore though. "

"So, the job is very important to you."

"You could put it like that. Plus, I have a great team that make it worth doing…but don't tell them I said that. "he whispered the last part of that sentence conspiratorially

She laughed again. Her laughter sounded like delicate glass bells, and Tony stored that sound in his memory.

When it was time for both of them to go back to work, they exchanged numbers and a promise to meet up again the next time their lunch breaks matched up.

…

The second time they met up, he told her about Milo and Lynnie. If this was going to become more than a friendship, then she needed to know. He'd had too many experiences of the most casual of relationships where the girl had backed off as soon as he'd told them. Like they didn't want to share their affections, or thought they'd be turned into a mum or something like that.

But Jeanne wasn't like that. When he told her, the first two things she asked was.

"What do they look like? When will I meet them?"

He showed her a picture from last Christmas on his phone and replied "Well, what about next Sunday ? "

…

Lynnie was taking ages choosing what to wear. Again. Even when just going to school , she did this. And understandably, her brother was annoyed.

"I was ready A CENTURY before you!" he yelled. He was dressed casually, in jeans and a white t-shirt under a dark blue thin jumper.

Tony chuckled at the 6-year-old's temper, because he knew that it only ever manifested itself in angry words and often hilarious facial expressions.

"Did you get your coat?" Milo thought, then jumped up and ran into his room. Just as the door to that room shut , Lynnie came out , carrying her grey coat and wearing a black long-sleeved top , a purple skirt , glittery belt around the waist , black tights , and rather than have her hair in the usual bunches , she was wearing it down , held back by a purple Alice-band.

"Finally. You look good ,Lyns." Lynnie's eyes lit up , and she put on her coat , then went to find her shoes. Tony breathed a sigh of relief. If there was so much drama around getting ready now , what was it going to be like when they were teenagers? He could only guess.

5 minutes later , they had all left the bungalow .

…

"You don't work at NCIS?" Lynnie's hazel eyes went huge , like she didn't think such a thing was possible.

"Nope , I'm a nurse. "

Lynnie twisted her fork , the spaghetti knot growing bigger and gave her a wide eyed look.

"Not everyone I know works at NCIS, Lynnie. Otherwise you wouldn't have people left doing ordinary jobs." Tony jumped in to prevent any clashes."

The little girl nodded seriously "And you meet lots of interesting people in Daddy's job. I'm going to be at NCIS when I am older. " She informed them.

Jeanne laughed.

"You know , when I was about your age , I wanted to be an astronaut." She said.

"Really?" Milo wanted to know.

"Yeah . "

"How come you didn't become one?"

"It was easier to become a nurse. And I like looking after sick people."

"Oh." After that, there was a silence as they ate. When they finished, as a treat , Tony ordered ice-cream for dessert .While they were waiting , Jeanne decided to try and get the conversation with them going again.

"What's school like, then?" The question wasn't directed at any twin in particular, but Milo answered first.

"Its fun. Do you know there are 5 sets of twins in first grade, not counting me and Lynnie –and 3 of them are in our class?"

"Wow. Really?"

"Yeah. I play basketball with Johnny and Liam, and sometimes when Dad's at work we go to Mark and Mallory's house after school. But I have friends who aren't twins as well. "

"That's cool. Until today, I didn't know any twins. Do you play basketball with Tony?"

Tony grinned sheepishly "We try to. "

"Normally on Sunday nights we watch movies and order pizza. Or we heat up a supermarket pizza, cos that's cheaper. "Lynnie told her "But today we are here instead. "

Jeanne blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry. "

"It's OK. " Lynnie smiled. "Me and Milo, we like you." The ice-cream arrived , and the twins tucked into it in unison , then gave each other a look , a sign of twin communication that only they understood the meaning of. Because they were fraternal twins rather than identical twins, watching them was even more disconcerting.

Then Lynnie looked at Jeanne.

"One day, you should come and watch a movie and eat pizza with us. Unless Dad has a case, then we'll probably end up staying at Mark and Mallory's house. Or Ella's house. Or Jake's house. But if he isn't, you can come. "

Both Jeanne and Tony chuckled.

"I think we should make sure Tony is OK with it first." Jeanne said.

Tony laughed "its fine by me. You're welcome any time. Although I'll warn you now, our house is pretty small. And messy. "

"Oh, that's fine. "

"Milo, Lynnie, we should finish up now. It's getting late and there's school tomorrow. "

In unison, the twins said "We're finished!"

…

From there on, the relationship blossomed. Of course, with the strains of work, and having to bring up the twins, things were difficult, and they rarely got time for themselves. But somehow, it worked, and Tony was determined to keep it that way.

One Wednesday at work, he was filing away some paperwork when Director Shepard approached him.

"Special Agent DiNozzo?"

"That's me." He joked, but the red headed director did not smile.

"A quick word?" judging by her voice , she had something serious on her mind , so Tony followed her office.

Director Shepard went to her desk, and sat at her chair. She motioned to the chair that was opposite at her desk, but Tony declined, and instead stood, waiting for the director to say something.

He certainly didn't expect that something to be the name of his girlfriend, and he was speechless.

"Y-yes. What about her?"

"Have you met her father?"

He hadn't, and told her so . Then he asked "But what does that have to do with anything?"

Once again, the response confused him

"La Grenouille *****"

"What?"

"He's an arms dealer. Your Jeanne's father. "

"Is he under an on-going NCIS investigation?"

"No ."

"Then with all due respect, Director, I don't see what the issue is."

There was a long silence, and the Director's blue eyes regarded Tony with an unreadable expression. Then she nodded and said.

"You may go."

…

While Tony wondered about whether that conversation was worth telling Jeanne about, Ziva made plans for a 2 week-long vacation to Israel. When she went, the squadroom was quieter-it always was when one of the team was gone. But it wasn't bad , since she would return.  
Tony put his worries away, all of them stuck up Ziva's postcards on the walls of their workspaces, and two weeks of their lives went by without much event.

Then the day Ziva was supposed to return came along.

But she didn't

**^^ The first cliff-hanger of this story! This arc of the story has turned out to be a combo of seasons 4-7…hope you like it so don't get annoyed at me bringing Jeanne in .I know she is hated a lot , but to be honest , despite preferring Tony and Ziva , I don't really hate her , I was just pissed off at her for trying to frame Tony for her father's death and stuff **

*** I am not sure how to spell the name that was used to refer to Jeanne's father…sorry**

**Please leave feedback : )**


	5. Rule 43

**I'm introducing a new Gibbs rule here! It's my own made up one ,not an official one …as far as I know ,this number hasn't got an official rule assigned to it ,….anyway , hope you enjoy this chapter .**

They would not rest. They did not _want_ to rest, until they found her. In the past 2 weeks, since they had realised that Ziva was seriously missing, they had worked tirelessly. Gibbs had only got 3 hours of sleep that fortnight. He couldn't vouch for the others, but knew they, too, had put similar amounts of effort in.

But still, no Ziva.

Then Jenny dropped a bombshell on them. Before she had left for her vacation, Ziva had started applying to become a permanent NCIS agent, and not just a Liaison Officer. The reason they had kept this from the team? It was to be a surprise for them, once the details were finalised. Half of the vacation she went on was meant to clear up the Mossad side of things. According to Jenny, in true Ziva fashion, she had refused to admit it, but she was like a happy child at the thought.

Which could only mean one thing .Someone was preventing her from being this happy child. To Gibbs, who had started to view Ziva as a daughter, this was the worst thing of all.

…

_By the time her eyes had adjusted to the dark surroundings, she realised there had been no point. This room was empty, dark, and broken. Like her. Where before she could fend for herself and then some, she couldn't even stay conscious for long now. _

_Then she noticed the picture, on the wall opposite her. It was hard to see in that environment, not to mention the picture was aged. But she recognised it._

_And her captor did too._

"_You've let them down. "He said. _

…

With their new information, the team had a new passion. Their first port of call was Eli David. But he had no information for them, as well as the fact he seemed genuinely concerned for his daughter, and seemed perfectly fine with the choices Ziva had made for herself ( Abby had said that perhaps the abduction was what was needed to make him realise that first of all , Eli was Ziva's father. Not her boss. Her father. And Abby's words of wisdom were usually true. )

So next they went through all Mossad employees that Ziva had been in contact with. .Even the director got properly involved. And, not surprisingly, Lynnie had wanted to help. So after school, one member of the team would set her onto something simple and not too sensitive, such as checking particular phone records for patterns. She picked up the skills quickly, causing a member of the legal department to comment jokingly that they were employing field agents a lot younger these days.

In amongst all of this, normal life went on. Tony had saved enough for a better ground-floor apartment, with sufficient space for bringing up 2 almost-7-year olds. It happened to be three streets away from Gibbs house, but he could live with that. They got the apartment within a week , and Gibbs gave Tony (and Lynnie) a day off to get things sorted. Jeanne had no such luck , so couldn't come over to lend a hand , but Tony reckoned the 3 of them would manage fine.

"Okay, so we'll put everything in place now, but decorating will need to wait."

"Until Aunt Ziva is found?" Milo inquired. Despite not being as involved as his sister, the kid was pretty aware of the situation.

"Yup, pretty much. "

They worked the whole morning, and soon had completed the kitchen and the living room, as well as Tony's bedroom. Now, once the twins had argued out which bedroom they would get, they'd sort those out.

But first, a lunch break.

They sat outside on the steps that led up to the front door, eating meatball-and-cheese sandwiches that were falling apart.

"Dad?" Lynnie asked.

Tony made an indistinguishable reply through a mouthful of meatball with no bread or cheese.

"Aunt Ziva isn't in America. And she isn't in Israel. "

Not sure what she was getting at, Tony swallowed and replied "We don't know for sure yet. America is pretty big."

"Yeah, but Aunt Ziva worked _all over_ the world! "

A blank moment, then Tony realised.

"You know that would mean getting a lot of people to help us. We are already pretty busy as it is. "

The girl regarded the remains of her sandwich, squashing in with both hands, causing a meatball to fall into her lap. She didn't notice it, but continued squishing the sandwich.

"Well, it was a thought. " She sounded so extraordinarily casual and mature, it made Tony want to cry. But he didn't, instead he pointed out that there was a meatball on her jeans, and she made an annoyed sound, picking the meatball up, shoving it and the rest of her sandwich in her mouth , and running back inside to change her clothes.

Tony got up to follow her, and then realised Milo was no longer there.

"Milo?" no response "MILO!" With no response, he yelled for Lynnie and together (after he locked the door) they ran down the street, yelling Milo's name.

Lynnie pulled her phone out of her pocket, and still running, switched it on and made a call.

"Milo, Dad's looking for you, you know. " Father and daughter paused for breath, and Tony looked at Lynnie wondering, _why didn't I think of that_?

"Huh?" A pause, then the girl facepalmed, a comical gesture from someone her age. "IDIOT!You should have told Daddy first! Stay there, OK? We're coming to get you. "

Lynnie hung up and turned to Tony.

"There's a basketball court at the corner of the street Uncle Gibbs lives at. Milo's playing with some teenagers. "

"Ok then, Agent Lynnie, let's go!" Lynnie giggled, because she loved being called that.

When they got there, nothing was wrong. Milo was laughing, playing ball with 5 boys with ages ranging from 13 to about 17.

One of the boys noticed Tony and Lynnie, and came over to them.

"I'm guessing you are Milo's dad and sis? "

"Yes. We've come to take Milo home. "

The kid, who looked 15, was of average height, with fairly average looks but piercing , amber-coloured eyes, suddenly looked flustered .

"Sorry. We thought he'd been allowed to. For a brat, your son is pretty cool. I'm Leo Rushton. I live opposite your house."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Anthony DiNozzo; this is my daughter, Milo's sister, Lindsay. "

"Call me Lynnie." Lynnie said.

"Hey there. " Leo shifted his attention back to Tony. "You're a fed, right? Like the boat guy?"

Tony figured that Leo was talking about Gibbs, so he nodded.

"Cool. Do you keep your house unlocked too? "

"Definitely not. Wouldn't want to get robbed. And before you ask, I do not build boats. "

Leo laughed, then said "Well, here's the odd thing, the boat guy never has anything happen to his house despite leaving it like that."

"Well, you don't know him like I do. Criminals would rather go to prison than rob Gibbs."

Leo laughed again and called Milo over .

"Milo-"Tony was cut off.

"DAD, just go with the grains!"

Everyone gave him a momentary _look_, then Tony recovered and said "Flow, go with the flow. Nothing to do with boats. But next time you want to come here, ask me first. And Leo is going to make sure that you do. "The teenager nodded in confirmation.

Milo reddened. Then he mumbled an apology.

"Good. Let's go then." Milo waved goodbye to Leo and the boys, and the DiNozzos went home.

…

It turned out that Lynnie may have been right.

Mossad Agent Joseph Levy. Had been in Mossad almost as long as Ziva had been. Trusted by her father almost as equally. His speciality was Somalia. On the day that Ziva was supposed go back, Levy offered to take her to the airport. Because he trusted him, Eli David let him, despite the fact that Levy and Ziva could barely stand each other.

But clearly, they had never arrived anywhere near the airport. So now the working theory was that Levy had taken Ziva to Somalia. For what purpose, they didn't know, but Gibbs had a theory that it was because Levy's extreme loyalty to Mossad had been offended by Ziva's decision, and further annoyed by Eli's consent.

Unfortunately, they hadn't a clue where to start. Even Director Shepard was clueless about Somalia.

…

_How long have I been here? A week, a month, a year? Time had lost all meaning. The amount of light in the room never changed, the only thing that ever happened was when he came and…._

_She knew what he was doing to her. But she didn't want to word it, not even in her head. It was bad enough that it happened. Her honour, her dignity, her very self was being taken. _

_Then, a glittery sounding laugh. She looked up._

_The memory was vivid, as if the 16-year-old girl in the white dress was actually in there with her, saying something inaudible, tucking a strand of straightened hair behind her ear, then giggling so hard her eyes looked closed. For someone who had died over a decade ago, she looked very alive._

Did I really let you down? Was I wrong? _The memory didn't answer, instead, the image changed. Another girl, at least 10 younger, skipping, hazel eyes as bright as ever. They could have almost been the same person, but this little girl was still alive. _

_Still alive. _Just like I am._ At that moment, a new determination flared in her. _

…

"Any news yet, boss?" Only Tony would ask as soon as he caught a glimpse of Gibbs. Lynnie might have, but Milo and she were at school for the day.

Gibbs didn't answer , instead he stared at the TV , which was turned off.

"Why is the damn TV off? " He snapped.

"Uh…is there something you are waiting to see?" McGee ventured, looking for the remote. Gibbs just gave him a look, and quickly finding the remote, McGee turned the TV on.

The TV was always on a news channel, and the breaking news headline shocked them all.

NCIS DIRECTOR DIES IN HOUSE FIRE.

"No…no way. We would have been told earlier, right? Right , boss ?"

"DiNozzo, it only happened last night. " Gibbs snapped.

"Oh. " a silence "OH . Crap! The media got hold of it fairly quickly."

"Boss, do you know who's taking over. "

The reply came instantly "Leon Vance. "

McGee nodded , stunned by the turn of events. How would they ever find Ziva now? What would it be like working with Vance as a director? He had only met the man a couple of times. He seemed OK , but he wouldn't know.

Gibbs broke into his thought train "We still continue as normal. Somalia, yes?"

…

"What's going to happen now?" Gibbs wondered aloud. McGee was on a meal break, and Tony, getting ready to go pick up the twins, was the only person in the squadroom in earshot.

"What do you mean, boss?"

"Ziva's been abducted, Jen died in a house fire caused by faulty oven-Rule 43."

Tony was pretty sure that he had never heard Rule 43 before, but didn't want to ask. Absentminded out-loud wonderings were not Gibbs-like. It was kind of scary.

But, as if he was psychic (which he probably was), he explained

"Rule 43: Disasters happen in 3's"

_Yes, they do_ , he thought , recalling a particularly nasty case with a narcissist serial killer .That had been a nasty one . At first, they had thought Gibbs would be the victim. Turned out he was supposed to be the weapon.

Tony nodded, absorbing the new rule.

"I better be off. See you in an hour. "

…

As it turned out , disaster did happen in 3s. But in this case , only for Tony.

…

A month turned into 2. Hopes of ever finding Ziva were fading. With each day Tony grew more restless , distracted.

It was a good thing they didn't have any other major cases running , Gibbs thought. His glance flicked to the empty desk.

"_I'm sorry Jethro, they're both dead."_

That day, when he had heard the news that Shannon and Kelly were dead, felt as resonant as ever in that moment. Was that going to repeat? Would a day come when Leon would call him for a private word in his office, telling him the news he didn't want to hear …?

Speaking of Leon's office, he and Tony were coming out of his office, and heading down the stairs to the squadroom.

Gibbs waited for them to come down, and once they were, Leon started to talk.

"Based on information that Director Shepard's contact was eventually able to send to me, both David and Levy have been sighted in Somalia, so-"Leon was cut off by Tony.

"I am going there to make that damn…that damn…to make him pay!" he was shaking.

Gibbs gave Leon a look.

"I assume that you don't have a problem with this?"

Gibbs thought about it. DiNozzo was losing faith, rapidly. So was he, but part of him still wanted to believe. Perhaps letting DiNozzo go would mean that Ziva would be found-alive. God knows they weren't getting anywhere just sitting here. And he could look after the twins. He had done so before.

He opened his mouth to reply when the elevator dinged. Normally , that wouldn't be such a big thing-people came in and out of the elevators on a daily basis , but the atmosphere around the 3 men was so tense , they all looked to the elevator .

The person who came out was the last one they'd expected to see.

**Another Cliff-hanger! Well, there are actually 2 if you look carefully. ^^ But I'll try and not keep you waiting too long. **

**Rule 43: Disaster comes in 3s (threes) –do you like this rule?**

**Please leave feedback. I am grateful for all reviews ^^**


	6. In The Darkness

The person coming out of the elevator looked dazed, tired and weak. Her dark hair was a mess , her steps were hesitant , her clothes were ripped , dirty and in some places blood-stained , and tears had dried in tracks along her familiar face.

She walked to her desk, and sat down, looking at Vance, Tony and Gibbs, but not saying anything.

"Ziva? Is that you?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Tony felt like an idiot. Of course it was! He wasn't sure how this happened, but that was definitely Ziva. Luckily for him, she didn't pick up on his stupidity, instead she blinked and remained silent.

Ok , it didn't look as if she was looking _at_ them so much as looking _through _them. Gibbs must have noted this , because he went to her desk , and lowered himself to knee height , so that he was looking up into Ziva's eyes .

"Hey , Ziva. Are you all right. ?"

No response. Gibbs reached forward to tuck a strand of stray hair back behind her ear. She flinched, and then trembled.

Concerned , Gibbs said

"We need to take you to a doctor .get you cleaned up."

"No." The word tumbled out of her mouth suddenly.

"Miss Davi-" Vance tried to say something but was cut off.

"I can't" The words were said in barely a whisper, but they were the words of a terrified girl.

Gibbs, sighed , then closed his eyes and took a breath before opening them.

Tony jumped in. "What about Ducky?"

The other two men stared at him.

"It was a thou-"

"I'll see Ducky. " Ziva said softly. Now Gibbs and Vance stared at her.

"It's decided then" Tony said "Should I call him?"

…

Ziva sat down on one of the metal tables normally used for lying a body on , and watched Tony and Gibbs as they took Ducky to the side and told him something.

When they finished, Ducky came up to her.

"It looks like you've been in quite a situation, Ziva. I have some spare scrubs over there, if you want to change. Oh, and how about some tea? Or something stronger? "

Ziva smiled.

"Tea is fine, Ducky." And got up to get the spare medical garb Ducky had mentioned. Suddenly, she was filled with an overwhelming desire to tell the medical examiner everything that had happened. But then she noticed that Gibbs and Tony were still there. It's not that she didn't want to tell them, it was just that right now, talking about it to everyone was not comfortable for her. Plus, she didn't plan on changing in front of them

Luckily, Ducky had picked up on this, as he proceeded to shoo them out.

"Hey, Zee-vah, is it OK if I take Lynnie to your apartment, pick out some proper clothes for you to change in after…" Tony asked quickly.

"Only Lynnie?"

"You know Lynnie and clothes." Ziva gave a quick nod before Gibbs and Tony dissapereared from sight.

When they had left, Ziva returned to her perch on the table, and breathed in deeply.

"Where….shall I start?"

…

The apartment was neat, clean and overflowing with books. As expected of Ziva .But what was not so expected was the colour coordination. Ziva was not a pink girly-girl, but the carpet of the living room was red, the walls and sofa cream, and the cushions and curtains pink.

The kitchen was in shades of pale yellows and oranges, and the one bedroom in ocean greens and blues. There was another small room, but that was filled with odds and ends, and looked more like a mini storage yard. Chaos behind a closed door.

"Is that what it looks like in Aunt Ziva's head now?" Lynnie asked upon seeing the small room.

Tony didn't quite understand the question, and so dodged it by going back into Ziva's room and to her (white) wardrobe and opened it.

"You're the expert."

Lynnie walked up to the wardrobe and regarding its contents with a deep expression of concentration. She gave a quick look at Tony.

"Dad, go get a bag. "

Tony chuckled at her imperious tone and then went to do so.

When he got back with the blue shopping back, Lynnie immediately dumped 3 small clothing items and a pair of pink socks into the bag.

"Underwear and socks. You are a guy; it would be awkward if you did that. I've found a pair of trousers, just looking for a top and jumper, or something ." she motioned to the bed, where a pair of trousers that looked like they'd be loose fitting was lying. Tony picked them up and put them in the bag, wondering when and where his little ponytailed girl had become so grown up and sure of herself. Then and there, he decided to save up for a vacation, spend some time with Milo and Lynnie and_ only_ them. He hadn't done enough of that lately.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Lynnie finally settling on a black shirt and a very colourful , slightly large stripy jumper.

"Let's go."

…

When Tony had got Lynnie back to Abby's lab, playing happily with Milo, he went with Gibbs back to autopsy . They were both stunned to see Ziva laughing over something with Ducky, and even more so to see another person in the room, a female .Ducky noticed the arrivals, quickly said something to the stranger , and went to Gibbs .

"I hope you don't mind, I enlisted the help of an old friend, Doctor Amelia Sutton." Amelia joined them , and Tony went to Ziva to give her the clothes Lynnie had picked out for her. The two were soon involved in a conversation, allowing Gibbs to talk properly with the two doctors.

"Special Agent Gibbs. Nice to meet you. "Amelia Sutton and Gibbs shook hands.

"I've had a lot of experience with rape victims, so Ducky asked me if I could do a favour, and come in to check over your Special Agent. "

Gibbs couldn't help but smile, but one thing about what Amelia had said stuck in his mind.

"She was…"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Beaten, too. She's been through a lot worse before though, more than we can even imagine. We both know that, Jethro. "

"However, she's holding up remarkably well. Perhaps her background has helped her. "Noting Gibbs quizzical look, she explained "Ducky told me a few things."

"Did she tell you how she managed to get back here, alone?"

Ducky nodded "It was quite interesting really. It seemed that Levy was using the fact both her siblings are dead as a sort of …emotional torture. At first, it was successful, especially considering the circumstances of Ari's death ….. , but eventually, it backfired, as it just gave our brave agent more motivation to escape. And it seems her captor was arrogant, or incredibly foolish, as all her stuff was left in the same place she was held. "

"Luck was on her side then. " Gibbs remarked. Only he and Ziva knew the truth about Ari's death, so he didn't bother to correct Ducky.

"I didn't think you were one to believe in luck, but yes. She got even luckier, as she managed to bump into a contact who owed her a favour – and she used that favour to board a plane, despite not booking a ticket, and find her way back here. "

Gibbs had nothing to say to that. He didn't usually believe in miracles, but what else could he call this?

"And she is doing remarkably well for someone who's been so isolated for so long. " Amelia looked back at Ziva briefly, and then turned back to Gibbs.

"I think being in familiar surroundings, around familiar people has helped her a lot. Earlier, one of your worker's, not a federal agent ….I thinks your forensic scientist, came up here, gave Ziva the biggest hug. When she left, Ziva seemed more relaxed, although I noticed she isn't much of a hug person.

Gibbs laughed a little, knowing that she was talking about Abby.

"What does she need now? Ziva, I mean."

"She needs to be loved, and supported, but not treated like she is delicate. She is anything but delicate. I'm sure you know that. So if she wants to talk, she will , and if she won't ,don't push it. I'd normally say that to get back to normal routine as soon as possible is the best way to deal with it , but her abuse was over a long time , and isolated , so perhaps a vacation may help first. "

"The guy who kidnapped her is trusted by her father, more than she is! "

Amelia nodded. "So, her relationship with her father is strained. Mother, siblings? What about them?"

"All dead, I'm afraid. Although at times, Jethro and the team are like a family. Abby even openly declares that we are family. "

"Well, that's something .Whoever is closest to her. "

Gibbs absorbed this. Ziva called out to them

"Ducky! I'm going to shower now!"

"That's fine, Ziva. Just be careful of the dressings."

At that point , Tony left as well , presumably to catch up on paperwork.

"I think I've done all I can. I should go now ."

"Yes , thank you , Amelia . "

The woman left , leaving Ducky and Gibbs together.

After a moment , Ducky spoke.

"Since you are probably wondering how I know her , it's like this- her sister works at the care home my mother now lives in , and when I went to visit Mother , she had also come to visit her sister. "

Gibbs nodded , his mind elsewhere.

…

Ziva was the only person in the showers. After leaving her clothes and her change of clothes in the changing room , she stepped into a cubicle and started to wash herself. The light was switched off , and she closed her eyes.

She did not want to see herself, see her body after what he had done to her. She didn't want to see the signs of her dishonour so blatantly displayed.

But most of all , she didn't want to see what she had become.

She reached for the soap without looking when she heard a little voice in the next cubicle

"Why is the light not on?"

Ziva almost dropped the soap. "Milo! What are you doing down here?!"

"I wanted to see you."

Ziva mentally facepalmed. This kid was a true DiNozzo. But Milo seemed to pick up on what she was thinking, because he then said.

"Or at least talk to you. I don't want to look at you naked. That is weird. "

"Oh." A silence as Ziva tried to rearrange her thoughts.

"What happened to you, Aunt Ziva?" Milo asked .

How to answer that? She used her words carefully. "I was kidnapped."

"_kid-_napped? But you're a grown up , not a kid. "

Ziva laughed. Funny, that. She hadn't laughed for all the time she had been in Somalia and now she was back here at NCIS he had laughed more in the few hours than she could remember in the past half-year.

"Well, I'm getting words wrong all the time , so I don't know. But somehow, I doubt there is a world called _"adult-napped_."

"Maybe when you've finished your shower and got all dressed up , you can ask Dad."

Ziva chuckled and turned the water back on to rinse herself.

"We moved house you know. Now I have my own room and Lynnie has her own room and Dad has his own room. We haven't decorated the rooms yet."

" Oh. Do you know how you want your room to be like?"

"Not yet…..oh, oh I know! Aunt Ziva, will you come and help us decorate our rooms one day? Maybe you can come on a Sunday and stay the whole day, then you can stay for Sunday-night pizza and movie afterwards!"

Ziva was touched by the simple invitation. "I'd like that very much ."

"Cool, I'm gonna go ask Dad!" and Ziva could hear the loud footsteps as Milo raced out and away.

Still smiling, she left the shower to dry off and get changed.

…

It was on an impulse that she went back up to the squadroom. But when she went to her desk, she saw a drink, a slice of pizza in a takeout box and a cookie next to her computer.

"Berry Mango Madness is still your favourite, right?"

Ziva jumped, having not realised that Tony was sitting at his desk, watching her.

"Tony!The next time you do that I will SHOOT YOU!" But her annoyance was short-lived, and she picked up her Berry Mango Madness and sipped it. Tony simply laughed and gave an idiotic grin.

"Good to see you back. By the way, Director Vance wants to see you. When you are finished."

…

"So, you want back."

His gaze is direct and emotionless. Director Vance is friends with her father. That could cause her problems later. But Director Vance is also friends with Gibbs. The problems wouldn't be major.

"Yes."

"You are damaged goods, you know that. " The lack of response that follows cements the fact that she does know, but still wants this, more than anything.

"Very well. I've arranged a psych evaluation for you .We'll see how it goes from there. "

…

She attended the psychiatric evaluation, felt like she passed with swimming colours ("flying colours" McGee corrected her when she said that. ) , and visited the team every day. One Friday , when she had nothing better to do , she went to pick up the twins(who were 7 years old by then ) , cooked them some Italian food in her apartment, and looked after then for the night, while Tony and the others worked on a kidnap case with possible terrorism links. She had briefly wished to be there with them, but Milo and Lindsay had stirred something in her . Something that made her think, maybe a life like this wouldn't be so bad. And god , Lindsay looked so much like Talia it was crazy.

And then finally , finally , 2 weeks later , she was given the "all-clear" so to speak , and was allowed to go back.

When she arrived , wearing a pink and flowery top she had brought as a personal celebration , she went to her desk , and started to check her emails. All the while , she looked up at Tony , and McGee and back again. They were acting similarly , stepping cautiously around this miracle In case it wasn't real.

She looked at Tony , and smiled.

This was real. It was good to be back.

**Sorry that took so long! Hope you enjoy the resolving of this mini-arc. I am planning on doing a couple of filler chapters-one with the decorating of the twin's bedrooms , and one focusing on Tony and his kids on vacation , with maybe a third which focuses on the rest of the team while he is gone….and then we will get to the mini-arc of the twin's origins!**

**P.S If any of you have heard of Shin Sekai Yori, you may have heard that there is a possibility of an English translation of the novel . The tumblr link has more info , but the short version is , if you are interested , please like the tumblr link! I haven't got tumblr myself and liking the post requires confirming a preorder , which I don't have permission to do , so the only thing I can do is share the post wherever possible. Anyway , if you are interested , copy-paste this into your web address bar : post/42116170457/any-chances-of-seeing-a-from-the-new-world-translation,... if not , just assume this part of the authors note is not here =P **


	7. Colours and Chaos

Milo was entranced by the colours, and slowly wandered up the paint aisle in the hardware store, looking carefully at each. Lynnie was also captivated, and ran from colour to colour, pointing out all the ones she considered pretty to Tony.

It was funny, he thought, how they were so similar, and yet so different at the same time. Both were friendly children who got smiles (or at least a softening in facial expression) out of everyone they encountered, but Lynnie tended to hang back and watch these people before engaging her charm whereas Milo went right in. Both were adventurous, but where Milo liked to slip off quietly and try something, Lynnie would shamelessly draw Tony's attention to it and not let up for ages.

And as evidenced right at this very moment on Saturday morning, both took pleasure from little things-like colours, but they showed it in different ways.

"Don't go where I can't see you!" He called out.

"Yes Dad! "Came the perfectly in-unison replies. While they were searching for their dream room colours, he took a look at some wall stencils and stickers, considering the possibility of buying some for them (and maybe even for him –it couldn't hurt), all the while making sure that the twins didn't stray, and also that nobody tried to take them. He knew all too well what the world was like.

He felt someone tug on his sleeve.

" I think I found a colour I like Daddy." It was Lynnie.

"yeah , let's see it then." Lynnie took him over to a pale pink colour pot titled "candyfloss."

"Nice colour. Be careful not to eat it."

Lynnie burst into peals of giggles "Silly Dad! It's not the actual candyfloss you know!"

Tony pretended to face palm. " Oh , of course! I really am a cheese brain, aren't I?!"

Lynnie giggled, and ran to her brother to tell him about how silly their dad was. Picking up 3 paint pots of "candyfloss " , he struggled over to where Milo was.

" Dad , can I have black , and stencil some blue shapes?"

Tony thought . "Black may be too dark. How about blue walls and black shapes? Or , I know , how about , two walls are blue with black shapes , and two back with blue shapes?"

Milo pulled a face , then seemed to think about it. "Yeah. "

"I want two colours too! Why can't I have two colours?!"

"Hey, hey , nobody said you can't have two….Infact , you can both have three! I think we can stretch that much. Milo, you already have two colours so you need one more, Lynnie, find two. " The tantrum was averted before it even started.

Tony felt pretty elated…until he remembered that he didn't get a shopping trolley.

He swore under his breath and cursed his stupidity.

A shop worker was walking by and happened to overhear.

"Would you like me to get you a trolley, sir? "

"Yes, yes please!" The shop worker disappeared and reappeared in due time with a trolley.

"You are a life saver!" Tony proclaimed, putting the cans of black, candyfloss and sky blue into the trolley and wheeling it over to the kids. Lynnie had found a darker pink and a deep red that she wanted, and Milo had discovered an ocean green he was going to use on the black walls, along with stencils in the shapes of a 5 pointed star, a 6 pointed star and some thought bubbles (which Tony found rather random, but wisely kept quiet about.)

The queue wasn't that long , and it did not take long for Tony to get the paints and stencils scanned , bagged , paid for and put back in the trolley. The discount vouchers he had charmed off an acquaintance had reduced the price of the whole lot dramatically , which was a godsend , and the cashier was friendly , pretty too , but not amazingly so . After Jeanne , nobody really measured up…

He pushed aside his thoughts to focus on the twins.

"Are we going to get a pet now? Are we are we are we?"

"No, we are not. You and Your brother are enough trouble as it is." He kept his tone light , but serious ,to let Lynnie know that he meant it , but also to make sure the happy atmosphere remained as it was.

He opened the boot of the car and looked at both of the twins.

"Okay, who's going to help me then?"

"ME!" they chorused in unison and they had soon managed to put all of the paint cans and the 3 sets of stencils in the boot, and Tony was about to decide which one of the twins he should ask to put the trolley back (he could see the trolley area from the car ), when he heard someone call Milo and Lynnie .

Two children, also twins, of a similar age to his, had come up to them. The boy was blond with glasses, whereas the girl had dark hair with a fringe that completely covered her left eye. They were familiar, but he couldn't place them.

"Lynnie, Milo, what are you doing here?" the girl asked

"Hey Mallory. We're redecorating our rooms tomorrow, so us and Dad came to get our paints. Look at the colours we chose. Hey Daddy, open the car back please." Lynnie asked.

Tony smiled "sure thing. Hi there, Mallory, Mark. "

"Hello Mr DiNozzo. " Mark said formally, in a way that was odd for someone for his age, then went to join his sister in talking about room decorating.

That left him standing with Mr and Mrs Gray , Mark and Mallory's parents. He had met them during the times he had taken or collected Milo and Lynnie from them , and they exchanged small talk nicely enough , but not much beyond that. He knew that the Grays didn't think much of him because he was a single parent , but he was willing to bear it for the sake of the friendship their children had with his.

"So , you're redecorating?" Mrs Gray asked.

"Yes . We've actually been at the new apartment for about 3 months now , but we haven't had the time until now , so I thought I'd let them have the opportunity to really make their rooms special."

"That sounds fun."

An awkward silence , then Mr Gray cleared his throat .

"I don't suppose you'll be using that tro-"

"Here, take it . We're just going home anyway."

"Thank you . Mark!Mallory! Say goodbye now , we need to go! "

Mark and Mallory ran obediently to their parents and waved at Milo, Lynnie and Tony before leaving to enter the shop.

Breathing a sigh of relief Tony said

"Well, shall we get home now?"

…

The next day was the big day. Most of the things in the kids rooms had been put into his room, and everything else covered with old bed sheets and curtains, some their own, the others given to them by Gibbs.

The twins had got out of bed early to help and drag their paint cans to their rooms, and now they were all eating their bowls of chocolate cereal, but where Milo had already changed into a long-sleeved red t-shirt and ripped jeans, Lynnie and Tony were still in their pyjamas.

Tony stretched after munching the last mouthful of cereal and said.

"Lyn, go get changed now. Don't take too long- its only old clothes, and Aunt Ziva will be here soon."

"Kay, dad. Want me to help with the wash-up?"

"Nah, it's cool. Its Milo's turn this time." Milo pulled a face at the thought of having to do chores, but didn't complain as he went to help. Lynnie laughed triumphantly and went to her soon-to-be-pink room.

The washing had been done , and Tony and Lynnie had just finished changing when the doorbell rang.

"Let me get it !" Lynnie hollered , running to the door and opening it before her father or brother could say anything.

Ziva stood there, in clothes not dissimilar to the ones she was wearing when she first met Tony, and although there was still a world-weary and sorrowful look around her eyes, it was faint, and she was glowing. In her hands, she carried two bags.

She stepped in and shut the door carefully.

"I brought some paint rollers and stuff just in case, and also some snacks."

"Snacks? " Milo asked, perking up.

"Not now, you've just had breakfast." Tony quickly said. Milo turned and pulled the most horrible face he could think of, and then said petulantly

"Well, I can LOOK, can't I?"

Ziva stifled a laugh and said, "Of course you can, _Tatelah,_" She handed the snack bag to Milo, who eagerly looked through, not saying anything .Then , he gave a satisfied nod and handed the bag to Tony , who quickly put the bag in the kitchen and came back.

"So…any idea how we should do this?" Ziva asked.

"I was thinking you and Lynnie would be together, and I would be with Milo to do his room."

"Yeah, girls together!" Lynnie chipped in. Milo glared at her, but seemed to decide not to start anything. Tony was relieved at that. There'd be plenty of squabbles during the day. He could do with one less.

"Well, that's settled. Shall we start?"

…

The radio was still on, in the middle of an insane, inane commercial break when 3 hours later, 2 paint splattered adults and two even more paint-splattered children wandered into the living room.

"I think it is time for a food break, yes?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah!Dad said the background paint needs time to dry before I paint the stars on there."

"What if you're painting stripes though?" Lynnie wanted to know.

"The paint still needs to dry, silly. It's still paint!" Milo turned to Tony "Can we eat now? Please?"

"Yeah, sure. Go wash your hands and faces though. "

The twins ran off, leaving Tony and Ziva together. Ziva went and sat carefully on the sofa, trying to get minimal paint on there.

"It was because of me, wasn't it?"

"Eh?" The statement had come from nowhere and Tony's brain was trying to catch up.

"Jeanne. She left you while I was…." She couldn't finish the sentence.

Tony stiffened. "Who told you?" He hadn't even said anything to Gibbs. Although, knowing him , he'd probably figured it out already.

"Milo. " She stated simply. "Also, I can't imagine why she wouldn't have come here today. Unless she was no longer part of your life. "

"Ah. Well, it wasn't really a deep secret…."

"…You just didn't want to talk about it. " Ziva finished.

"Yeah. " Tony's hand briefly brushed over his jeans pocket, where he kept the one thing about the whole sorry story he never wanted to show.

"She was tired of my unpredictability. Then Je-The director's personal vendetta against Renee Benoit made things go completely south. "

Ziva pretended to not notice the tongue-slip. "But she must have been jealous. After all, I am another female, and you must have been devoting so much time to ….."Once again, she left the statement hanging.

"Don't say that. " Tony's eyes were hard "Don't ever, ever say that. It wasn't your fault, never will be. The team is family anyway. You know that. "

At that, Ziva felt like crying, but didn't. Instead, she burst out. "He took my _Magen David_. "

"You're what?"

Ziva indicated her neck, and opened her mouth to say something else when the twins burst in , Milo carrying the snack bag and squabbling with his sister.

"Dad , Lynnie wants to have pizza for lunch even though we are having it tonight and even though you said we could have the left over roast in those wrap thingies-"

"Whoa, slow down, kid. " Tony got up. "First, do we even have tortilla wraps?" He disappeared into the kitchen, and came out almost as quickly

"No tortilla wraps, and pizza is definitely out of the question until tonight. What about normal sandwiches. "

Lynnie pulled her stubborn face , but nodded in compliance. Milo headed to the kitchen, yelling

"I'm making them myself!"

"Don't spill anything!"

"I won't!" the reply came.

"You know how to make roast dinners?" Ziva asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, Jeanne taught us. Then yesterday we helped Daddy to make one. With stuffing AND gravy. We had carrots and broccoli with it too, so that the meal was healthy as well as tasty." Lynnie informed Ziva before Tony could get a word in. Tony reached over and tickled his daughter .

"And since when did you become my voice?"

Between giggles, Lynnie said "You talk too much anyway. "

That resulted in more tickles and giggles. Ziva watched them pensively, thinking of her own father , and how different her relationship with him was.

"It's time for lunch!" Milo called from the kitchen.

"We're coming." Ziva replied , getting up and turning the radio off , which had been belting out cheesy yet happy songs all this time , unnoticed.

…

"Uncle Gibbs? What are you doing here?"

At that, Tony poked his head around Milo's room door.

"Oh, hey boss." Tony was speechless, and looking for a diversion. He wondered how Milo had even realised Gibbs was at the door, when he hadn't even rung the doorbell

"Milo, you're trailing paint all over the carpet!" Milo looked at the paintbrush, and then turned it over so he was gripping the brush side rather than the handle. Tony mentally facepalmed as Milo simply went back into the bedroom.

"How's the painting going? " Gibbs asked.

"Its….it's good. Milo made lunch for us , we all made lots of mess , but this paint dries surprisingly quick , so it looks like we'll be done by tonight….they're gonna be completely wiped out when it's time for school tomorrow. "

"I don't suppose you have a spare brush? Perhaps I could help out."

Tony gawked in astonishment. "Erm…thanks, boss."

A ghost of a smile flashed past Gibbs face.

"The last time I did any decorating was painting the nursery for Kelly's arrival. We painted it pale yellow with flowers around the skirting boards. "Gibbs rarely offered any memories of his first wife and daughter, so Tony was surprised to see this one given up so casually.

"You can help me and Milo then .Wall stencils are a messy business." Gibbs simply nodded in reply, and then followed Tony into Milo's room.

Milo was trying to hold up a large stencil in the shape of a thought bubble against one of the black walls with one hand while using the offending paintbrush to fill it in.

Gibbs reached over to hold the stencil.

"Thanks, Uncle Gibbs." Milo said without pausing. Soon, there was an ocean-green thought bubble painted on the wall , surrounded by stars of the same colour.

"When the cloud has dried, I'm going to paint 'Milo's room' into it, and make it look like handwriting. While I wait, I'm going to paint some blue stars on both of my black walls. "

"What about those blue walls of yours? Are you going to leave them plain? "Gibbs asked. At that , Milo paused , and put on a deep-thought face.

"I might paint black stars around the door, but that wall I'm leaving plain, because I have posters and stuff . "

"Good call . " Milo grinned, mock –saluted (getting blue and ocean-green paint in his curls ) and went back to painting . Gibbs picked up the spare brush and another stencil, and then found a blank area of the wall to start painting on. Apart from Tony occasionally bursting into song, and Milo even more occasionally joining in , the 3 worked in silence.

Meanwhile, in Lynnie's room, Ziva and Lynnie were working out what to do with the red and dark pink paints.

"What about borrowing Milo's stencils?"

"No way! I want my room to be different!"

"Hmm….you has any ideas then, Lindsay?" The girl thought for a moment, appearing unbothered that Ziva didn't call her by her nickname. Then, she grinned and started to jump up and down .

"I know, I know!Stripes. Look, like this. "Still bouncing, Lynnie went to the nearest wall and explained what she meant. Ziva smiled and went to open the tins of paint they needed, and once they were suitably armed with paint brushes, they got to work.

Owing to the simplicity of the design, Lynnie managed to get most of it done she. To reach the high places , Ziva simply carried her on her shoulders.

About an hour later, the two were standing in the middle of the room , admiring their work.

The walls were pale pink, and around the edges, as though framing the walls, a red stripe was painted , and inside this the dark pink stripe .

"It looks good. " Ziva said.

"Yeah , it does. But what now? Maybe I should paint the door red."

"Nope. Remember, Tony said that under no circumstances were you allowed to paint the door. "

Lynnie pulled a face.

"Well then , I'm gonna go see why they are taking so long. " with that , Lynnie left her room , and Ziva , after watching the little whirlwind for a moment , just shrugged and followed her.

…

"Milo!" All of a sudden , Lynnie burst into the room and jumped onto her brother's back , putting her arms around his neck and wrapping her legs around his waist. Milo wobbled, startled.

"Lynnie!" he tried to shake his sister off "You're STRANGLING me!"

Lynnie loosened her grip slightly , but remained where she was. Ziva came into the room and watched in quiet amusement as Lynnie berated her brother

"You're taking too long! We've already finished! And we started after you!"

"I don't think we'll be able to finish if you keep slipper-limpeting like that though. " Tony pointed out.

"Oh , right. " Lynnie unhooked herself and stood next to Milo.

"Is 'limpeting 'an actual word anyway?" Ziva wondered aloud.

"Says the one who can't get her idioms right. " Tony retorted.

Ziva responded by sticking her tongue out , which made the twins laugh. Gibbs rolled his eyes and smiled , putting the paintbrush down.

"We're almost finished here anyway. Why don't you two clean up and get changed ? "

"Yeah. All your clothes are in my room. " Tony said.

"We know!" In unison , they rushed out .

Ziva , Tony and Gibbs exchanged brief glances and laughed.

…

The movie was picked by Milo-Princess Mononoke, a 1997 Studio Ghibli film. Ziva wondered if it wasn't a little too dark for 7year olds to be watching, but they seemed to be enjoying it . So did Tony, surprisingly. She didn't think he was into animated films-despite his wide range of movie tastes.

Gibbs left straight after the movie , but Ziva stayed until the twins had been put to bed.

Tony saw her to the door.

"Interesting movie." She said.

"Yes…"

" Not really your type though. " It wasn't a question.

"Milo really likes them though. These Studio…whatever it's called."

"Ghibli."

"Yeah , whatever. "

Ziva shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Well , I'd best be going ."

"Wait." Tony was holding something out to her. "Milo said you might need this –because your old one is gone. He said it wasn't exactly the same but hoped it was good enough. He was being merciless in getting Lynnie to give it up. Anyway, I'm not sure what he was talking about but here."

Ziva took the small item. It was a necklace, a thin silver chain with a dark blue 5-pointed star as a pendant. It was definitely _not_ the same, but Ziva knew what it was supposed to be for. Tears came to her eyes and she smiled, putting it on.

"When they wake up, tell him I said thanks, and that it's good enough. See you tomorrow then."

"See you tomorrow. " When she left , Tony shut the door and went to bed.


	8. Vacation

**I've changed my mind about doing two sides to the vacation arc- I simply don't have time and the alternative would be to have all you readers wait for many months….which I know is something I have done already , but isn't something I enjoy . I'm not sure how I am going to do the rest of the story now…..but hopefully it will turn out fine…**

Tony was bored. Really, really bored. He was sitting in a deckchair at the side of a pool in a hotel in Detroit half keeping an eye on his twins while reading a newspaper and trying not to nod off .

He yawned , and his stomach rumbled . He reached for a packet of crisps he had put in the bag next to him and lazily opened it , stuffing them one or two at a time into his mouth. When they had got here two nights ago , the twins had been too tired for anything beyond dinner in the hotel restaurant and a bath before going to bed. The next day , they had gone to the theme park , the new one which ran the hotel , and they had happily tried out every single ride-save for the ones the twins were too big for , and happy gorged themselves on cotton candy , hotdogs , and other fairground foods. Tony had enjoyed it , it felt like he had been transported back to his childhood , but he had officially decided that carousels freaked him out , which wasn't helpful because both Lynnie and Milo had decided that they loved carousels. Infact, they had been back there that morning.

" Bored?"

Tony turned his head. The woman next to him had apparently noticed his current state.  
Noting his surprised look she chuckled and gestured to the masses of parents and children around them , enjoying the sun and the pool.

"It's great spending time with the kids , but it can be pretty boring too . Plus…I've never really been into all these sort of loud….you know. It's great they can make friends to play with..."

Tony regarded the woman. She looked to be a few years older than himself, but very pretty, Dark hair and eyes –possibly half-Asian.

" I know what you mean. Nice to meet you , by the way. "

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't introduce myself. My name's Lyndsay Hardman."

Tony laughed. "And I'm Anthony DiNozzo. Call me Tony  
You might find this rather odd, but my daughter is called Lindsay. We call her Lynnie though. "  
He pointed out his ponytailed daughter , who was playing with Milo and a couple of other children. "That boy is my son , Milo. He and Lynnie are twins. 9 years old."

"Your children are playing with my eldest, Luke. The blond one. "She pointed to the smaller pool nearby. That was when Tony noticed the ring on her finger.

"Those two are Ellie and Becca, my youngest two, and my husband , John. "

"How old are they? Your children? "

"Luke's the same as your twins, Becca is 7 and Ellie turned 3 last month. "

"Cool." There was an awkward silence , as both wondered what to say next. Luckily for them , Lynnie and Luke appeared infront of them

"Mum , my friend has the same name as you !"

Tony and Lyndsay exchanged a look. "Really , now. And are you going to introduce me ?"

" Lynnie , this is my Mum. Her name is Lyndsay . Almost like your name , but you spell it different , right?"

"Yeah. Only Aunt Ziva actually calls me Lindsay anyway, and sometimes Ducky does too , but most everyone just calls me Lynnie. Or Lyns. This is my Dad , by the way."

Tony pretended to be offended "Oh, so I'm only an afterthought now am I ? "

Lynnie ignored the joke "Can we have ice-cream now?"

"Finished swimming already? Where's Milo."

"Probably swimming by himself. "

Tony stood up to look for his son when he heard Lyndsay say that they should probably ask Tony first."What should you ask me first ?"

Luke blinked.

"Well , I was wondering…..can Milo and Lynnie east dinner with us at the hotel tonight? "

Tony nodded.

"Yeah, sure. "

"Yay!" Both kids jumped high in excitement. The parents exchanged another look, trying to supress their laughter.

"Well, I'd best find Milo and get you two dried up. See you at dinner, Luke,…Erm…"

"You can call me Grace. It's my middle name. "

"Sure thing. See you at dinner, Grace. "

…

"Daddy, I've got nothing to wear!"

Tony face-palmed, literally. " Lyns , do you really call 6 t-shirts , 3 shirts ,a fleece , 2 cardigans , 3 pairs of jeans , 2 pairs of shirts , 3 skirts and a dress nothing?"

Lynnie looked stricken.

"She wants to look good for Luke." Milo informed Tony from where he was sitting on the hotel room bed watching cartoons and still wrapped in a towel. Lynnie turned to her brother, who simply pulled a face, which annoyed Lynnie.

"Shut up!"

Milo just pulled another face, causing Lynnie to attempt to punch him , resulting in a fraught 5 minutes where Tony attempted to pull his twins apart. When he finally managed to send Milo to the bathroom to get changed, he sat next to Lynnie.

"You know, you look fine whatever you choose to wear. " Lynnie, now looking glum, didn't respond.

"And I'm sure everyone else will think so too. " He sighed, wondering if this could spiral out of control , resulting in unimaginable psychological problems. Then he mentally Gibbs-slapped himself and decided to deal with what was here and now. Take things a step at a time.

"Ok , so were you thinking of a particular colour to wear?"

"Red or Yellow. "

"Right. "He thought a moment "Well, you have that red t-shirt, with the flowers on , or the smiley t-shirt. "

"I brought my red skirt with me. "

"Ok, cool. You want to wear that?" Lynnie nodded.

" And what would go with it ? "

"Either my black shirt with the ribbon sleeves that BeeBee gave me , or the white t-shirt , or the black and white stripy one. "

"Well , you can't wear all 3. Which one do you want?"

Lynnie smiled . "You choose. "

"I'd better get them out of the suitcase . I can't remember what they look like. " he went and did just that , then returned.

"Hmmm…..I say this one. After you get ready , we can take a picture and send it to Abby. She'll like to see you wear it ."

Lynnie nodded. "Thanks, Dad."

Tony smiled and ruffled Lynnie's hair. "Yeah , next time you get in a situation like this , think of a colour you'd like to wear , then work around it. "

"And make allowances for the circumstances , like where you are going and the weather. " Lynnie nodded to herself " It's what Jeanne taught us , right?"

"Yep. That's right. Where did Milo get to ? "

"He's still in the bathroom . He already finished changing but he's looking at the rainbow that forms on the wall when the sun shines through the ventilation thingies. "

Sure enough , Milo was doing just that. Tony didn't bother to wonder how on earth Lynnie had known. He already knew his twins were weird.

…

"Hey, Lynnie, are you taking seconds?"

"Yeah." Milo , who stood next to her , nodded as if to say , _I am too._

"I'm taking seconds too!" 3-year-old Ellie, a mini-clone of her mother , jumped up and down . She adored her big brother , and was always trying to copy him.

" Look after your sister , Luke. " John said.

Luke rolled his eyes . "Yeah , I know." The 4 children went towards the self service.

Tony noticed Becca hadn't left the table. "no seconds for you?"

The little girl glared with sleepy blue eyes. "No, I want to sleep!" She rested her blond head against her mother, who looked down at her lovingly.

"Been running around too much? "

Becca mumbled something indecipherable. She was falling asleep.

"I think I'll take this one up to bed. John…"

"Yeah, I'll bring up the other two monkeys. " Grace picked up Becca, and shot an apologetic look at Tony.

"It's fine. " Tony said in reply. Grace nodded and left them.

There was a momentary silence and then John asked.

"So…Lyndsay told me you guys live in D.C? "

"Yeah, that's right. "

"We actually live in Virginia. "

"Oh, that's cool. We may even have bumped into each other. "

"You mean on one of your cases? "

"Yeah , probably. "

"What agency do you work for again?"

"NCIS."

Recognition showed in John's face " Oh , you guys. I've seen your vans drive around a few times. "

Tony nodded. "Probably. "

Just as the silence that followed was about to turned awkward, John blurted out.

" I used to be a single parent as well."

"You did? " Tony was surprised.

"Yeah….Luke is actually Becca and Ellie's half-brother. They would have had an older half-sister too, but….Leukaemia. "John didn't see the need to elaborate , or rather , it hurt too much to elaborate.

"How old was she? " Tony asked in the soft tone that always accompanied the death of a young one.

" 5. Luke was just born , so he doesn't remember Stella . My first wife and I were divorced soon after. Then I met Lyndsay. And now, well ..I'm here now. "

Tony felt like he should offer his story in return , but as he opened his mouth to do so , the kids returned .

"Dad , there's brownies!With chocolate sauce , and there's ice-cream too , so I'm going to have all together!"

Tony pointed to the twins' piled up plates.

"Eat those first. " In response , all 4 kids pulled faces at him , causing John to laugh.

The rest of the evening passed like that , and Tony was exhausted by the time he had tucked the twins in and was lying in bed himself.

He got his phone out , pulled up the picture of Lynnie he'd taken earlier , and sent it to Abby , along with a short message.

The reply came back quickly. Tony wasn't surprised

"_She looks better in that top than I ever will . I knew she'd like it. And Tony , don't sweat it. This is Lynnie we are talking about after all. Most of the time , she's perfectly sure of herself . It'll be fine . "_

Tony smiled and sent a simple "_thanks"_ before falling asleep

…

The friendship between the DiNozzos and the Hardman's got stronger. Most days , and for most of the time in each of the days left in their vacations , they spent together. Mainly because the twins and Luke became best friends, but also because the 3 adults enjoyed each other's company , and if they had met if they were not parents , they would have liked each other too. More importantly for DiNozzo , it was the first time he had known a parent (not counting Gibbs) who didn't seem to instantly judge him for being single and in an unstable job while looking after them . That was something he'd never forget.

One of the days , Tony looked after all 5 children , another time , the Hardmans returned the favour -it had been many years since he had last spent some down time to himself.

And today, Tony and John were at the beach with the kids, so Grace could go wander around the mall without the children complaining.

Up until lunchtime, they had got an energetic game of catch going-even Becca, who was slow to open up , had enjoyed herself with no inhibitions . They ate a lunch consisting of snack foods, fizzy drinks and ice-creams, but since the next day both families were heading home , this was overlooked.

After lunch , the two adults slept while the children played. Tony was dreaming of the type of things he usually dreamt of , although his ear was tuned to any sounds of danger , or those of his kids needing him .

Despite this , he didn't hear the muted giggling and the beginnings of a cheeky plan, which is why he was rudely awoken by cold sea water splashing out of a bucket onto his face. He spluttered and opened his eyes to see Milo and Lynnie holding the offending red bucket , grinning and laughing at him .

Laughter resonated as Tony chased the twins to tickle them .

…

"should we call him?"

"Ziva , you know Tony , any minute now , he'll rush in , give a really dumb excuse with no apology for his lateness , then Gibbs will come in and headsla…"

"I get the picture, McGee!" Ziva interrupted. Any minute now turned into any hour now , until Gibbs got a call. Ziva and McGee watched , tense . When Gibbs got off the phone , he simply stood up and said .

"Grab your gear!"

McGee began to point out that Tony had yet to arrive but Gibbs cut him off.

"DiNozzo's been in a hit-and-run accident. "

**Another cliff-hanger! Don't worry , he'll be fine , and all will be explained in the next chapter. This is also the reason Tony was in hospital in my one-shot "Galactic Railroad" **

**Please leave feedback^^**


	9. Abby's Suspicions

**A quick warning: This chapter will be pretty short**

**Another quick warning which I probably should've posted last chapter: My knowledge of American geography is pretty much zero. All inaccuracies are utterly my fault.**

**=^.^=**

He was fine, as it turned out. Injured, and definitely out of action for a long while, but still intact. The drunk driver responsible was quickly arrested .  
Milo and Lynnie stayed with Gibbs while Tony was in hospital, and both seemed happy.

About a month into his hospital stay, Ziva came back from visiting him and made frustrated noises about him being depressed. This was enough to get the other team members to visit him in quick succession, but to no avail, until Ziva proclaimed she was going to read from him every time she visited , and the book she had chosen was a childhood favourite ,and an obscure title none of the other had even heard of . But somehow, it worked , and Tony's recovery speeded ahead and he was back in the squadroom in no time , getting Gibbs-slapped , making dumb jokes , constantly referencing movies , and generally being Tony. But something had changed , especially between him and Ziva. There was a deeper, subtle understanding.

And occasionally, Ziva would call him "Giovanni" and he would call her "Campanella".

…

The summer started to shift into autumn, fiery leaves fell from trees, and everyday life continued , with the usual amount of murders and kidnappings and such like to deal with.

One particular day , there hadn't been any major cases for a week , and the team had spent most of the time completing paperwork and attending the dreaded sensitivity training sessions.

McGee, tired of constant pranks , had taken his work to Abby' s lab , and the two had been working quietly when Abby said

"Look at this. "

McGee got up and went to the computer.

"Erm….what am I looking at?"

Abby sighed . Then she clicked a few times and two photos filled the screen.

"Ziva….and Milo and Lynnie?" McGee was confused.

"McGee!" Abby's expression made him want to laugh as it was cute and funny , but he supressed it.

" What?"

"Look!"

"I'm looking!"

"Fine , here is a hint : PHYSICAL RESEMBLANCE."

McGee looked. Studied their complexions , compared their hair , noted the eyes.

"The twins do look a lot like her. "

"Exactly!"

McGee wondered where this was going .

"And? Nobody even knows where the twins originally came from . "

"Exactly! "

McGee had a revelation. " There is no way , _no way_ that what you are suggesting could even be faintly true . For one thing , she's known them for almost 7 years –something would have to give!"

"She left them as babies! There's too much similarity for this to be a coincidence McGee, and you know what Gibbs says about coincidence. "

McGee recognised that Abby was latching onto one of her theories , and it would take a while to get her to let go of the idea.

"Whatever you do , don't put your foot into it . "

Abby softened.

"Don't worry, I'm not about to do anything that hurts the twins. "

McGee smiled.

"I'm going to grab lunch now, then I'm gonna stay up there for a while. "

"Okay. I'm gonna dig deeper into this. "

"Nobody is stopping you!" McGee said as he left.

…

A couple of days later, Abby was sitting at her desk , and sipping a Caff-Pow , when her computer in the main part of the lab flashed.

Sure that she knew what it would show , she rushed to check the results. Then she blinked , and started typing and clicking furiously.

20 minutes later , she was staring at the screen in shock.

" No…way…"

**It's a real cliff-hanger this time! Any ideas what Abby has discovered? I hope I haven't been too obvious , or too subtle . **

**Please leave feedback!**

**Quick reminder: A description of Tony's hospital stay is in my one shot "Galactic Railroad" .**


	10. Under the Stars:Part 1

**A quick reply to an anonymous review from "Natalie": I was slightly confused by your review , but I hope this reply is enough-although there are some TonyXZiva moments in this story , the focus is on the family –both the DiNozzo family and the team's family-like dynamics. I will put a warning in the story summary , if that helps. **

**Anyway , Now the truth about Milo and Lynnie will be revealed , and now you can see whether it is what you expected .**

**Enjoy =^.^=**

"What ,exactly are you saying?"

the entire Gibbs team and the twins were standing around Abby's computer as she pulled up the findings she had saved onto her computer for them all to see.

"Ok , let me explain so all of us here get it. " She looked around at all of them . "If there are two individuals , and they are identical twins , they share 100% of their DNA , correct? "

The team nodded, most with a look on their face that asked _where is this going?_ . Abby contiuned

" If an individual is a parent , or an ordinary sibling , like fraternal twins of the other , then they share 50% of the DNA. "

"Like us!" Lynnie interrupted.

"Exactly." Abby took the interupption in her stride. " And if that person was a biological aunt , uncle , niece or nephew , then they'd share 25%.Anyway , I ran Ziva's DNA against Milo and Lynnie's –you guys remember when I showed you how to run DNA samples. "

The twins nodded , compeltely confused into silence.

"I was expecting to find a 50% match between you two and Ziva…sorry , Ziva , but you and Lynnie look so alike its' actually stupid , and even Milo looks a lot like you …anyway the point is , I didn't find a 50% match , I found a 25% match . "

"So….I am their aunt?Biologically , I mean. "

"Yes. Which begs the question , who could possibly be their parent?"

The sounds of the team's brains rapidly connecting dots could be heard –it was that silent.

"You didn't figure it out?" Abby no longer looked pleased with herself.

Gibbs was the first to answer.

"Ari Haswari. "

"Correct." Abby's voice sounded hollow.

The reactions were all different. McGee's mouth was hanging open , Gibbs looked stonily angry , Jimmy looked confused , Ducky sorrowful , Tony conflicted and Ziva , although not openly crying , had watery eyes that looked red around the edges.

Ziva bent down to hug the twins.

"Aunt Ziva , who's Harry?" Lynnie asked , hugging her aunt back .

"_Ari._ My half -brother. "

Ziva straightened and looked the twins-her niece and nephew , in the eyes.

"So Ari-the-half-brother is our birth father, and you are our birth aunt…." Milo turned away from Ziva to look at Tony "Daddy , are you still our dad?"

"Of course! Nothing's changing that , not now , not ever. "

"What happened to Ari?" Lynnie wanted to know

"He died. "

"Oh. " Lynnie looked up at Ziva , as if trying to figure something out ,and then….

"That's the name of the guy that killed Katie!I'm related to a murderer!"

…

Who would have thought a single name would have brought up so many painful memories? She had been the only one out of them to have never met Special Agent Kaitlin Todd, but she would have to have been stupid to not realise that her brother's finger on the trigger had such a big impact.

Then again , she hadn't realised that it had been her brother's finger on the trigger that day.  
Right up until the very end , she had believed her big brother , the one who was afraid of butterflies , who used to read stories and give piggyback rides and tickle both her and Talia until they laughed whit tears coming down their cheeks , was innocent.

When she had killed him to save Gibbs , she had thought that eventually , eventually , it would stop haunting her , and she could grieve normally and move on.

And she had . But now this…this can of maggots(_Worms , Ziva_! She imagined Tony saying) had been opened and their worlds were back in free-fall.

She had taken the twins back home with her, not only because she had been the only one who hadn't met Kate , but because she now had a genunine , tangible connection to them . She had made macaroni and cheese , and then tucked them in while trying to answer as many questions as possible. She had attempted to call Tony so he could talk to the twins , but he wasn't picking up.

She noticed it was Lynnie with all the questions , ranging from what Ari was like a child to "why did he kill Katie?"

She tried to answer as best as she could , skipping over the details she didn't want to talk about by saying that she hadn't seen Ari for a long while before learning of his death. Which , in a way was true , but she wasn't about to reveal the complete truth until they were both older.

Once she had tucked them in , she went to her room , pulled off her outer layers , and pretty much tried to get to sleep fully clothed.

She tried to slow her breathing and relax , when she noticed her room door slowly open.

She sat up like a shot.

"Aunt Ziva?"

"Milo. You scared me. "

Milo just went and sat at the edge of her bed , watching Ziva as if trying to sum her up. Briefly , Ziva questioned Tony's belief that Lynnie was the quieter of the twins.

"Does Dad want us anymore?"

"What…do you mean?"

"Ari is our real father..But he killed Katie , and she was like Daddy's best friend. Well , apart from Uncle Tim and Abby. But we're not really Dad's . So he might not want us anymore. "

"Milo…"

"I'm gonna go back to sleep now." Milo cut Ziva off , which didn't matter too much as she didn't know what to say.

…

After dropping them off at school, Ziva rushed to work ,and quickly scanned Tony's was in , but not sitting there right at that moment.

"Where's Tony? " She asked McGee.

McGee thought.

"Erm , Bathroom , I think. Wh-" Ziva left before McGee could even ask

She soon found Tony. He didn't notice her at first ,and when he did , he did a double take .

"Do you make this a habit or something?"

Ziva didn't respond.

Tony quickly realised that Ziva was angry.

"What?!"

"What are you thinking of , right now?"

"Erm….that a crazy ninja chick ambushed the men's room to find me-again , so I am in trouble?"

"I mean, since what Abby found out. "

" …erm , I….I don't know. "

"You are seeing my half brother when you look at them . You are remembering what happened , all those years ago. You cannot help but link your twins to the loss of Kate. "

"I'm not blaming them!"

"I didn't say you were , " Ziva clarified "At least , not consciously , but the fact that Ari fathered them has clouded how you see them , hasn't it? You are thinking of Ari whenever you picture them . So you are avoiding them."

"I'm not!"

"You didn't answer the phone when they callled you to say goodnight!"

Tony gritted his teeth , looked down for a moment . Then , quietly , he said.

"What about you? Do you not see Ari when you look at them?"

"Actually , no. Actually , I see Talia when I look at them. Especially Lindsay. They both have the same eyes."

Tony looked up at Ziva , something new in his eyes.

"But I also see you in them ." She continued. "There may be no biological connection , but you are definetly their father. "

Tony absorbed this , and nodded.

Ziva nodded back , and left Tony.

When she returned to the squadroom , she realised that she hadn't given him the full-blown lecture that she had planned in her head.

It didn't really matter now.

Later in the day , Tony got up from his desk.

"I need to go pick up the twins. " he said in the direction of Gibb's desk.

Gibbs looked up surprised , and exchnaged a look with Ziva. She gave a small smile back , and knew that Gibbs had understood.

…

Declaring relatives who weren't immediate wasn't a necessity , but Ziva had wanted them to name the twins as her next of kin-which essentially made Tony her next of kin, a weird , but not completely unpleasent, thought.

After that , life went back to normal. The information , and the shock it carried , had been processed and stored in the minds of all of them. Now , when thought of , it was merely a statement. Of course , there were some questions that needed answering , but they'd all accepted that it was unlikely that these answers would be found , so they didn't dwell on it.

One day in October though , Leon Vance approached Ziva in the squadroom.

"Can we talk?"

"Director. I..don't mind. What do you want to talk to me about?"

With Ziva sitting down and Leon standing , th e situation looked somewhat threatening . But Ziva wasn't scared.

"The twins , Milo and Lynnie. Have you told your father about them?"

"Eli? Why would I tell him?" Although she no longer thought of Eli as "papa" saying his name still made her feel cold , for reasons she no longer thought about.

"They are his grandchildren , David. "

"Oh." Then , hesitiantly . "Are you going to tell him. "

The Director fixed her with a look. "In this case , It isn't my place to do so."

When he left , Ziva breathed deeply , then opened her e-mail and tried her best to put together the words she needed.

…

They were turning 10 today , and by some miracle , there were no cases that needed the team's attention , so they turned the party into one big get-together .The Hardman family had come down for the party , and even the director , his wife and two children came. Naturally , Lynnie was happy about this , but Milo was somewhat irritated , as he ahd wanted to invite some school friends. But Tony had reassured him that this too was possible , and so they were all happy.

Of course , the guest list ended up a bit large , and so even in that spacious apartment , it was going to be a squeeeze. Until Gibbs offered his house as the location. It had been a long time since children's laughter and birthday party chaos had resonated around his house.

And there was so much of that tonight . The cake hadn't been cut yet- Abby was finishing adding some final , decorative touches to it in Gibb's kitchen. Lynnie was dancing with Luke , and Milo was playing catch with his group of friends , using a balloon for the ball.

The adults were all talking , and laughing. Even Gibbs was chatting . Looking over the whole scen , Ziva's heart felt warm.

Taking a cup of juice , she went and sat on the front doorstep , looking up at the sky. The stars were already out , and they shone brightly.

She sipped and stared at the stars .

_Yes , this is where I am meant to be now_, she thought, smiling as she did so. Then she looked across the road , and her thoughts sobered.

One guest was missing. Would he come this time , or would he let her down again , like always?

**So…I hope this lived up to your expextations . What do you think will happen? Do you think Eli will show up ,thus giving them a chance to reconcille? Or will Ziva be disappointed , once again? **

**Please leave feedback!**


	11. Under the Stars:Part 2

**Well , here it is, the second part of the chapter.**

**Hope you enjoy it. **

She heard Abby come back into the living room , announcing the completion of the cake , but she didn't go back in. Not yet.

The streets remained empty , apart from various passers-by , and her hope was slowly reducing , in the same way there was less juice in her cup , but still , she waited , until she heard Lynnie ask where she was .

She had just opened the door when she heard her name being called. She turned.

He was here.

…

Well , here was the face Tony had thought he'd never see. Eli David. He had to admit , he was shocked when Ziva told him that she wanted to use Milo and Lynnie's birthday party to tell him about , and introduce him to his grandchildren. He knew about Eli , and was cynical .

But it seemed a miracle had occurred.

"Over here , over here!" Abby ushered everyone around to the table., where the cake was. This cake was large , and round. Each half had 10 candles , and was decorated differently. One half was red with icing hearts and bats in various colours arranged in no clear pattern , and the other was tiger-striped.

"You can video us , as you got here late!" Abby informed Eli , handing him a camera that he looked at in confusion. Ziva quickly went and gave him a few pointers , then went back. Everyone arranged themselves , with Milo and Lynnie in the middle , in front of the cake . Tony had the matches , and proceeded to light all 20 candles. When they were all lit up , he stood back.

While Eli filmed , they all sung happy birthday to the twins. Unfortunately , some started slightly before , and slightly after the others , resulting in a slightly jumbled song. However , it had lots of spirit behind it.

Afterwards , the cake was cut and shared out , and Ziva approached Eli.

" Those are your grandchildren. "

"Yes." Eli looked thoughtful "I didn't believe it , even when you sent me pictures. But now…." He uttered a phrase in Hebrew.

"What ghost?" Milo had appeared next to them , thoughtfully chewing cake.

Eli chuckled.

"You understand Hebrew?"

"Yes. Aunt Ziva told me . Are you Grandpa Eli? "

"Yes , I Birthday "

" Thanks " Milo continued eating and watching them until Ziva shooed him away . At that point Leon came up to talk with Eli and the conversation between father and daughter was over for now.

…

The party was over. Everyone, save for the DiNozzos , Ziva , Eli and the Hardmans(who were staying with the DiNozzos overnight) , had left. The kids were all happily helping Gibbs clear up , and eventually , Ziva had gone to join in. John and Grace where talking , leaving Tony and Eli standing around awkwardly.

"Shall we go outside? Eli asked.

Surprised , Tony just nodded.

They went outside , and the silence lasted for a while before Eli said.

" You've done well. "

"Eh?"

" Milo…and Lindsay….You've done well taking care of them. "

"I …well , thank you."

" They seem happy , Healthy , and well-adjusted too. Its' exactly what I would want for a grandchild of mine. Don't look so surprised…I may have trained my 2 eldest to be killers, but that was so they wouldn't have to do the same with their own children. I'd hoped that they'd be able to carve out a safe haven for themselves and their families-they were always so protective of Talia , my youngest. But it didn't go as planned…."

"You're right. Your plan didn't go as you'd hoped. But you didn't even bother to pick up the pieces." Tony snapped harshly.

"I'm trying. " was all that Eli said in reply.

_They keep coming back _

The phrase popped randomly into Tony's head.

"You keep trying. There are two very special kids who'd like that , and one amazing , resilient woman who _needs_ that. "

With that , Tony walked back inside , leaving Eli standing outside , looking up at the stars and thinking.

…

The DiNozzo's , the Hardman's and Ziva walked home together. Eli had left them about 10 minutes ago , with promises to visit again , and to keep in touch, but whether this meant anything remained to be seen.

Tony opened the door to let them all in when Ziva said.

"Tony , can we talk?"

Tony paused.

"Let's go inside first. "

So they did, and once the children were asleep (Luke in Milo's room and Becca , Ellie in Lynnie's) and the Hardman's were in Tony's room , Tony and Ziva sat on the sofa where Tony was going to get his sleep.

Despite being the one who wanted to talk, Ziva was tongue tied . It didn't help that a certain, undefinable atmosphere had crept up around them.

Eventually Ziva said.

"Thank You. "

"For what?"

"Just….thank you. For a second chance."

Tony didn't even pretend to know what she was on about.

"You know, if not for 2 missing letters, Lynnie's middle name could easily be 'Talia' "

Tony thought about this. "You want me to change it?"

"Nah , it's fine. In Jewish custom, you can get away with honouring someone by giving the child a name that simply begins with the first letter of that person's name. "

Ziva's hand reached for Tony's and held it. He held it back. The atmosphere changed , slightly.

"It would be wrong , now, " Tony whispered. "To do this , I mean."

"Rule 12?" Ziva asked in the same whisper.

"Not just that." Tony didn't need to say more than that. They both understood. Ziva let go , and stood up.

"I should go. I'll see myself out."

Tony nodded.

"That second chance? You deserved it. Don't we all , sometimes?"

Ziva didn't reply as she left , but he knew she heard , and understood.

**Yes I know this chapter is very short, but I actually can't add more . Sorry if that disappoints.**

**Anyway , this is the final chapter , and there will be two epilogues….later. It will take a while on account of I have exams coming up , but it will happen . So although I'm leaving the story status as "In-Progress" , consider it finished for now. **

**Now , I know most will be surprised that I made Eli into a good guy by having him come-but I really wanted to give him a second chance. Most of the characters have been given one , whether directly or indirectly , by Milo and Lynnie. Gibbs got a second chance at helping to raise a child , Tony learned many life-lessons upon becoming a father , For Ziva , they offered her an atonement for the guilt that stems from Ari and Somalia….**

**I'm also thinking of having a sort-of sequel to this , set when the twins are adults. Lynnie will be an NCIS agent with her very own team . However , this fanfic , if it happens , will be a crossover with the anime **_**K project**_** ( Listed simply as **_**K**_** in fan fiction archives) , so if you aren't an anime fan and wish to read this , be prepared. However , I have yet to think of a title , and it won't actually happen for a while. Later , I'll post a short(ish) summary of this story under "Title pending" on my profile , so if you are interested and have any title suggestions I'll be grateful**

**Anyway , please leave feedback^^**


	12. Lynnie's Epilogue-School Magazine

**Here is the first epilogue –Lynnie's one. I am setting it in the twins' first year of high school , roundabout after they turn 16 , and this will sort of be a springboard for the sort-of sequel , which I still really need a title for so if you guys could take a look at the summary I've placed on my profile under [Title Pending] and then help me out with that I'd be ever grateful .**

**Anyway , I hope you enjoy. **

There was a reason the name _Lindsay_ _DiNozzo_ was known well around the school, and the girl with that name was well aware of the reasons. Not that she really cared about those reasons. Especially not today. Today was the day she was to present her idea for an article –it had been one she had been planning for a long time .Her dad and brother had looked at it and told her to go for it , as did a couple of her friends (who were not on the school magazine) , but she was still nervous.

After getting her bundle of notes from her locker , Lynnie ran down the corridor to get to the classroom the school -magazine committee used ,somehow avoiding the attention of eagle-eyed teachers, and ignoring strange looks from other kids. But once she actually got there , she paused, hesitant. Suddenly , she was more than nervous. She was terrified.

She took a deep breath , and pushed open the door.

…

"They said yes!" Lynnie almost knocked her twin over outside their psychology class after the free lesson.

Milo made some choking sounds and released himself from Lynnie.

"I'm guessing you're talking about your magazine thingy?"

"Yes!" Lynnie laughed , her fringe falling into her eyes. As she pushed it away , a couple of boys entered the class , lamenting.

"You think we can ever compete with him?"

"Who , you mean Clayton?"

"Yeah. "

"Dude , he's her_ brother_. "

"Still , he's like the only guy that can get that close to her. "

Milo and Lynnie exchanged a look. Then they laughed. Lynnie quietly ignored the fact that at school , people called her brother as Clayton (or Clay ) rather than Milo.

"I guess we'd better get into lesson. "

"yes , we should. Oh and Lyns?"

"Yeah?"

"Use my room for storage and you are dead. "

…

The next few days she was busy , juggling her regular homework with making clothes , taking pictures and writing up everything. She was also making many phone calls. She went to bed shattered but pleased with herself every day.

Then one day , on an impulse , she decided to go visit the NCIS team after school. Once her Biology lesson had finished , she ran to the boys changing room , where she knew Milo would be , and pushed the door open , yelling his name.

An annoyed looking Milo came to the door , blocking the view of the simultaneously irritated and fascinated other basketball players from Lynnie. She was glad. She hated those guys , finding them shallow and annoying , ,only tolerating them because of Milo.

"What?"

"Just came to tell you that I'm going over to the squadroom today , so don't come looking for me afterwards."

"And you couldn't text me this because…?"

"The last time I did , you'd left your phone switched in your jeans pocket , decided not to get changed after practice , then spent the next hour looking for me!"

Milo sighed. "Fine .Coach wants to make this session longer than normal , tell Dad I might be late for dinner, kay?"

"Sure thing. Bye Milo."

Nearly half an hour later , she was coming out of the elevator and heading to the squadroom. Everyone was gone , so she assumed they were either on a case or on break. Sitting at her father's desk , she took off her NCIS Visitors badge from her shirt and attached it to her jeans , so it wasn't immediately visible , then took out her magazine article and started writing.

It wasn't long before she heard somebody ask "Agent DiNozzo?"

She looked up and saw a thirty-something solid looking blond man standing in front of her desk. He was wearing smart clothes that wasn't a suit , and even she could tell he was probably a probie.

"I think you mean "Very Special Agent DiNozzo" Who's asking?"

The guy blinked green eyes , looking a bit flustered ."I'm Probationary Agent Tom Lewiston. I'm supposed to be reporting to either you or a Special Agent Leroy…Jethro Gibbs?"

Lynnie bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from laughing. Clearly the guy hadn't done his homework , or he'd have realised by now that there was no way she could be Special Agent DiNozzo.

On an impulse , she decided it couldn't hurt to play along until one of the team actually returned. She closed her notebook before Lewiston got a look at it and then looked at him.

"I don't know anything about this . I suggest that you wait for Gibbs to come. Sit there . That's Special Agent McGee's desk . He won't mind. "

Lewiston nodded , and went to the desk . Once he had sat down , he took out a novel and began reading it. Lynnie sighed. Thankfully she wouldn't have to make conversation.

She went back to her work , at times looking up to see if her father or one of the others had arrived.

And then.

"Lyns?" Lynnie looked up . "Oh , hey dad." She got up and shoved her notebook in her bag , going to stand next to Tony.

"Who's this ? " Tony whispered.

"A probie. Tom Lewiston. " Lynnie whispered back with a level of drama not needed.

At this point , Lewiston glanced up from his novel , and was about to start reading again , when something seemed to click. He looked from Lynnie to Tony and back again , and Lynnie had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

Tony stepped forward and held his hand out to shake.

"I'm guessing you're waiting for Gibbs. He's not gonna like this you know , he's never been great with probies-well , at least the ones assigned to us. Anyway , I'm Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo-that's _Very _Special Agent to you. This one who tried to make you believe that she's me is my daughter , Lindsay."

Lewiston's eyes travelled to Lynnie's NCIS Visitor's badge.

"You can call me Lynnie."

Lewiston blinked. Then laughed. And laughed.

"Wow. I can't actually believe I fell for that. " he laughed some more. "Do….do you do this to all your Probies?"

"I wish I'd thought of it. " Tony said , utterly deadpan.

Lewiston blinked , looking very probie-like.

"Well , Good to meet you , Lynnie. Are you an only child?"

"Nope. I have a twin brother. He doesn't come by here often though."

"I see."

"Lynnie , if you want to stay here a while and do some work or whatever , go down to Abby. "

"Yeah , I know. Nice meeting you , Probie."

Lewiston chuckled. Lynnie started to go for the elevator when she remembered something.

"Dad! Milo said he's gonna be late home today." She yelled over her shoulder.

"Okay!"

As the elevator pinged she heard her dad tell Lewiston that "she is actually going to be an Agent DiNozzo someday." At that , she smiled to herself.

She spent a couple of hours with Abby , occasionally helping her out , before deciding to go home and raid the fridge. She had put in her earphones , and was listening to music , oblivious when suddenly , she felt a slap to the back of her head. Turning , she saw Gibbs.

Instantly , she knew that he knew about her pranking the probie. She grinned sheepishly. Oh , well. It was bound to happen

…

"It looks good. " Lynnie stapled the pages of the last copy of the magazine before putting it on the pile that her friend Alicia was carrying.

Alicia pulled a face.

"What am I , the magazine stand ?"

"Nah , just the delivery van. " Michael , the editor , a senior said , deadpan. Alicia looked like she would have hit him , but her arms were full.

"Lynnie's right though , this issue is pretty awesome , even if I do say so myself. Well done , guys!"

A cheer went around the classroom.

"That's because of Lynnie's piece though. " A black haired girl from the year above said.

Lynnie blushed. "Don't be silly, Clara." She stood up , embarrassed suddenly. "Here , let me help you ."

"Thanks Lynnie. "

The two set off to the office , Lynnie carrying half the pile.

"So…what are you gonna do with the clothes?" Alicia asked.

"Eh?"

"You know , the ones you made and got them to model?2

"Oh! Well , I let Billy , Thomas and Eleni keep their outfits , because they really wanted to. Mimi 's selling hers , and the rest , I still have. Maybe I can give them to a charity shop or something. "

"No way , they're worth way more than that!"

"Well…..I dunno. I kinda need to catch up on some of my work. Dad'll kill me if I started failing now. "

"Well , whatever. I guess you could sell them at the school fair or something?"

"Hmmmm…perhaps I can run that by Madison . Look , we're here already. "

There was one teacher still in the office , who didn't pay attention to the girls as they put the magazines down on the racks next to the door , which housed all matter of school-related leaflets , letters and brochures. Once they were all in the pile , Lynnie picked up 3 copies and tucked them under her arm.

Alicia looked at her quizzically.

"Bee , Aunt Ziva and Dad." Alicia nodded. All of Lynnie's friends knew about the NCIS team/family.

"Well , let's get back. I think Clara and Lily have probably started a party in there."

"You're probably right Al " Lynnie laughed as the two linked arms and headed back.

…

"I'm back!" Lynnie yelled as she stepped back into the house. She didn't expect an answer , but this was something she did as a habit , every single day.

Lynnie went to the small fishbowl and looked at the fish Grandpa Eli had bought them a few years ago.

"Hi Kate." She said to it , and tapped the glass briefly to make it swim around rapidly. She laughed briefly , and went in search of a snack.

Milo was listening to music on his phone and sitting at the kitchen counter, eating a massive sandwich. When he noticed her , he pulled out one of the earphones.

"Want me to make you one?"

"Nah , I need some chocolate." She dumped her bag at the dining table and went through the cupboards until she found a large bar. Biting it , she went to sit next to her brother.

"You…know your article magazine?"

"Yeah. "

"I told the guys on the team about it?"

Lynnie snorted. "Right. Let me guess , they made cracks at everyone except the hot girls."

"Well….." before Milo could finish , Lynnie shook her head.

"Actually , I was going to say that Rafiq wanted to say thanks , and he can't wait to read it."

"Eh?"

"When he was a grade-schooler his sister, Meera I think her name was , had anorexia. She died eventually, and his parents never did tell him about it properly."

Lynnie chewed some chocolate , and once she had swallowed it she said.

"Well….I'm glad I could help , I guess."

"Do you have a copy with you ? I heard the magazine was being printed today. "

"Sure." Lynnie went to get it. By the time she got back , Milo had finished the sandwich. She did a double take at that , then handed the magazine to him.

He flipped to the article , and read slowly. "You wrote a lot" was his only comment as he was reading. When he finished , he closed it neatly and put it down.

"So…you thinking of being a reporter instead?" he asked.

Lynnie tilted her head , and gave him an identical questioning look. Then she smiled.

"Nope. I'm technically not one yet , but I'll always be an NCIS agent!"

**And there it is! First epilogue , finished! What do you think?**


	13. Milo's Epilogue-Restless Souls

**A Quick Note: This epilogue is going to have a completely different feel to Lynnie's , less funny , more serious .Hope you enjoy it anyway.**

He left a note before he left the house.

It was pretty much like any other school morning…except he had woken up at 5 , and now he was ready to go , it was almost 6 am . So ,he left a note , so there wouldn't be any chaos when Dad and Lynnie woke up. He still remembered that time when he was 7, and had just upped and left ,eventually finding Leo and his friends , and being one of them. Since that day, he had often done similar things , sometimes going to play basketball with friends , sometimes just wandering alone for a while. And each and every time , he left a note , or texted either Lynnie or Dad.

Quietly , he left the house , and headed to his destination. Once he got there , he stepped even more silently than before , as if making sure not to wake up the dead who were lying peacefully under headstones and within tombs all around him.

"Hey ."

Gibbs looked up , and nodded once in greeting.

Milo joined him and knelt by the graves , tracing the names with his finger.

_Shannon and Kelly Gibbs._

Milo reached into his pocket , and pulled out the small carved wooden flower he had made in Art Class the other day. He put it on the grave.

"Happy birthday , Kelly." For today, October 14th , would have been Kelly's birthday. He couldn't remember how old she would have been , but despite this and the fact he had never met her , he still felt a connection with this part of Gibb's family. Which was why , every year since he had known about them , he visited the grave with Gibbs.

Gibbs standing , Milo kneeling , they stayed there for a short while. Gibbs talked , telling his two girls about recent events. Milo occasionally filled in details.

Then Gibbs said.

"Well , I need to go now. Goodbye Shannon, Goodbye Kelly. I miss you." Gibbs left without saying goodbye to Milo, not that he minded. He decided to set off to school , perhaps stop at a convenience store to get breakfast.

That was when he saw the girl.

She was putting a bunch of flowers down on a gravestone a few rows away , a dazed , unfocused look on her face as she did so. Her eyes were dark and wide, and her long hair was wild yet pretty. Milo was sure he had seen her somewhere before. In one of his classes , maybe?

Looking as if he wasn't paying attention to where he was going , he approached the girl.

" Hello."

The girl looked at him. She tilted her head curiously and regarded him for a moment. Then, something unidentifiable entered her eyes, and she turned and ran, the skirt of her white dress streaming behind her.

Milo watched for a moment, and then shrugged. He glanced at the grave the girl had been visiting, then headed to school.

…

For the rest of the day, he couldn't get the wild girl out of his head. He saw her, sitting at the back of his English class, confirming his earlier recognition. But rather than go and talk to her , he discreetly watched her whenever he could. Something about her captured him , but he didn't know what. It scared him a little. He had never had a girl fill his thoughts like this before. Never.

He went to bed early that day , hoping to get her out of his head. No such luck. Instead , images came back stronger and stranger than before.

…

A few weeks went by , and these weeks became a few months , and eventually , the wild girl became little more than a collection of occasional thoughts. Through eavesdropping and conversations he learnt a few things about her. She had transferred from another school about a week before he first saw her. Her parents were dead and she now lived with her grandmother. Her grades were good , but apart from Creative Writing and ICT , they weren't brilliant. She avoided people like the plague-even Lynnie , and never answered in class. Despite all this , he never learnt her name .He didn't expect to.

At least , not until the day basketball practise was cancelled. It was a sunny February Tuesday , and there was some health and safety issue with the locker rooms. Not that he cared. He simply texted his sister , and went on another long wander-around.

Eventually , he came to a pretty looking meadow. He had been here a few times , and it didn't seem to belong to anyone , so he walked straight in , and found a place to sit.

He almost sat on her.

Making a surprised noise , he stood up again.

"Sorry , sorry!" he moved so he was sitting next to her. Her hair was still wild and long , and today she was wearing a red top with a grey just-above knee length skirt. She appeared to be drawing , or writing in a notebook of some sort.

He studied her. Unlike the last time he approached her , she didn't run away. Instead , she ignored him.

"Erm…we're in the same English class , aren't we?"

She ignored him.

_Dammit._ He thought. _What will it take to get her to reply to me? _

Out of nowhere , a flashback came.

"Kinoshita-san…we're in the same English class ,right?" as soon as he said it , he was mentally kicking himself. How was saying the same thing in Japanese going to help?

However , she had looked up , and was now regarding him.

"How do you know my language?" she replied , cautiously. Her voice wasn't sugary and high like most girls . It was a slightly deep , somewhat ageless voice.

Looking sheepish , Milo switched back to English "I like languages."

"I see." The silence returned and then she said "I think we are in the same class. And you have a sister , yes?"

"Yeah . My twin sister , Lynnie. "

"I've seen her. You look so alike."

"Well….we're twins. I guess it's kind a inevitable. "

"Similar but different ."

Milo looked at her. With 3 words , she had described everything that he and Lynnie were.

They spent the rest of the time in silence. But this time , it didn't feel so awkward.

Eventually , Milo had to leave.

"Maybe I'll see you tomorrow ….at school , Kinoshita-san?"

When he didn't get a response , he started to leave.

"You can call me Ayuri, if you want. "he heard her say. Milo decided to take that as a yes, and smiled all the way home.

It was only when he got back home that he realised that for the entire conversation , she had been speaking in Japanese and he'd been replying in English.

…

They started to talk a lot during their free time. Mainly outside of school , whether this was in the meadows , or a café , or by text /email/Facebook. Ayuri, as he came to think of her , taught him more Japanese , and in return , he attempted to teach her a little bit of the other languages he knew-French , Spanish , Hebrew , German. He wasn't a great teacher, but they always split their sides laughing afterwards. They didn't talk much within school, but they didn't ignore each other either. Once , Ayuri even came to one of his basketball matches afterschool , and sat where an audience would normally sit , quietly watching. This was a role that was usually taken by the girlfriends of other guys on his team ( all cheerleader/sporty and stereotypically pretty types that Milo wasn't interested in. ) , and so this sparked a lot of questioning from everyone after practise

" Dude , is she your girlfriend or something?" Rick asked.

Milo winced at the use of the word "dude" and started to reply , but Jack butted in.

"I didn't think she actually _talked _to people , you know."

"Ayuri does talk ." Milo said "And it's not like I'm dating her or anything…"

"Her name is Ayuri? I never knew that! She's kinda hot , but in a scary way. Why don't you date her already?"

"How'd you even talk to her without getting eaten?"

"_Eaten_?" Milo raised an eyebrow.

"She's like a wild animal or something. "

"Totally terrifying , she might be cute , but you're welcome to her."

"Yeah , yeah .We really congratulate you . It's about time after all. "Milo found that irritating, but he supposed Rick had a point. He had never had a girlfriend. Had never found a girl attractive. Sure, he'd notice if a girl was pretty or whatever, but that was all it ever was. An emotionless observation. Same with guys. In other words, he was completely and utterly asexual.

"Well…." Milo wasn't really sure how to reply. He glanced at Ayuri. She was getting bombarded with questions from the girls, and her face looked as though she was willing to shape shift and escape-anything to leave .

"I got to go now. " he pushed away from his friends. "Ayuri!" grateful, the girl came up to him.

After throwing a goodbye over his shoulder, he left , running.

Once they were a good distance from school ,they stopped.

"I…am never , ever doing that ever again!" Ayuri declared.

"Sorry. " Milo absently scratched the back of his head. " You don't have to , you know. "

"Yeah….but it made you happy , right?"

Milo thought about that. Then nodded.

"And that makes me happy. " Ayuri concluded. Milo grinned at that. How cute.

"Do you wanna come over one Sunday?" he asked on an impulse.

"Hmmm?"

"To my house . Me, my Dad and Lynnie , we always stay in on Sunday evenings. Order pizza and watch a movie. We've not had a guest for our movie nights for a while now."

"I guess I'd like with your dad first , yes?"

"He'll be cool with it , but yeah , I will."

They had continued walking at this point.

"Lynnie…your sister?"

"Yeah. I thought everyone knew her. "

"I'm the girl who doesn't want to know anyone , remember?" there was a bitter laugh in those words.

"I.."

"When my parents died, My mum was pregnant. Just a few more months , and I would've had a sister. Just a few months, and maybe she would have been left behind too. You are lucky , having a sister. "

Milo didn't know what to say to that. Ayuri seemed to be able to read his mind.

"I know. You don't need to say anything. Not many people know that about me. " Then , she slipped her hand into his. Surprised , he jumped. Then , he closed his fingers around it , and they held hands for the rest of the walk , until they parted ways.

…

Somehow, He knew.

He woke up at half past midnight cold and shaky and he _knew._ Later , Lynnie would tell him it was because she was the same as him , and had what she called a_ restless soul , _but now , the knowing took him over , got him moving.

Ayuri was hurt. Or scared. Or both.

Without thinking, he silently got dressed , then left the house , forgetting to leave a note , not that he realised at the time.

_Where would you go? _He remembered talking to Ayuri's grandma , and how she told him that Ayuri used to disappear for days at a time before meeting him. She never left a note , and always turned up safe. Her grandma had learnt to get used to it , and now took it in her stride. So Milo tried to do the same. Except , this was different. Something had gone wrong.

As he wandered the familiar streets , he tried Ayuri's mobile , many , many times. No answer. He thought through everything that they had ever talked about , trying to work out where she could be.

"_I'm not scared of death . It's inevitable , and I've come pretty close to it myself. So I know death well. Like an old acquaintance. " _

Of course! Milo instantly stopped in his tracks and turned to run in the opposite direction. Then he hit another roadblock. The graveyard was closed at this hour. Obviously. Oh well , one thing for it.

He made quick work of the fence and railings , climbing over them quickly. Sometimes having a ninja for an aunt was useful. Once he got in , he found himself thinking he should head for a tree for some reason.

So he went to the nearest tree. Sure enough , Ayuri was at the foot of the odd angle she was at , Milo approached carefully.

Her eyes flickered open.

"Milo…"

"What happened to you?" he tried to keep his voice light.

"I fell asleep in the tree. Then fell out. " the matter-of-fact way in which she said this almost made Milo laugh.

He went and sat next to her carefully. Then , he pulled out his phone to call 911 and get this whole mess sorted.

…

Ayuri was lucky. She escaped with a broken wrist and both ankles sprained. She spent a lot of time off school , and Milo went around each week to drop off her school work. But asides from that , he didn't see her. The doctors had advised peace , quiet and lots of rest…meaning no visitors. They kept in touch , but it wasn't the same.

Tony noticed this.

"You want to invite the girl around here one day?" he asked one night after dinner.

"Eh?"

"Like a date or something….not that it'll be much of a date with me and your sister around."

"Dad! Ayuri's not my girlfriend!"

"Yet."

Milo rolled his eyes.

"You went out in the middle of the night to rescue her and forgot to leave a note. I call that love. " Milo sighed and rolled his eyes again.

"I've finished washing , can I go now?"

"Go , go." Tony pretended to chase Milo away with the wet cloth.

"Sunday Night Movies? Can I invite her around for that?" Milo asked before he left the kitchen.

"Sure, why not?"

Milo smiled to himself.

…

"Milo!" Lynnie yelled out. Milo was in his room , listening to an audiobook when he heard his sister call him. And continue.

He paused his audiobook.

"I'm coming !I'm coming, Dammit." He followed Lynnie's voice to the door .Then stopped.

"Oh , Ayuri."

"Disappointed.?"

Ayuri had cut her hair , and now her fringe was neat. She had dip-dyed her hair , so it was a gold colour at the ends , so her wild look was still left. Her left arm was in a sling , and she was wearing a yellow dress top over black skinny jeans. With her uninjured hand , she was holding a carrier bag.

"No , of course not. Are you ready for the greatest movie night ever?"

Ayuri laughed and came in , slipping her shoes off and taking care to close the door.

"I bought drinks. What movie are we watching?"

"_Nick and Norah's infinite playlist_" Lynnie answered, rushing into the living room ahead of them.

Ayuri looked quizzically at Milo.

"It's her turn to pick the movie. "He whispered conspiratorially. "it's unfortunate , I know. "

"I HEARD THAT!" Ayuri looked a little confused at the sibling banter , but seemed to find it funny , laughing anyway.

Milo shook his head , ignoring Lynnie.

" My Dad's putting the pizza in the oven , want to meet him now , or wait until the movie?"

"Now. "

Milo grinned , and then took his fellow restless soul by the hand to start the greatest movie night ever.

**There we are! Finally finished. I hope you enjoyed this story. Any questions you can leave in the review and I'll try and reply with the best possible answer-of course , this may be difficult if you are an anonymous reviewer , but I'll try ^^**

**Anyway , I plan on starting the sort-of sequel in the summer holidays (late July/August ish) , might post the prologue slightly before that. Until then , I'll probably just do a few one-shots. Had some ideas floating around for a while now. **

**Thanks for reading!**


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